Redeem Me
by goldnheart
Summary: As Lunar New Year approaches, old debts remain. To finish the past, the Senshi must find the artifacts their lovers left behind and reveal the real events which destroyed the Moon and which led to the Shitennou's betrayal...before time runs out. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own sailor moon. I just borrow.

* * *

Redeem Me

Minako sat curled up in front of the window. It was raining. Again. She sighed, pulling the fleece blanket closer, shifting in her chair, the assignment from Artemis forgotten on her desk. Focusing was just not happening today.

Gray days always made her think about him. Those gray eyes laughing at her while she protested the gloom his planet subjected her to. That gray hair, silver and diamonds when he walked in, dusted with raindrops from morning patrol. Him. It was always him. And she hated him for it.

And it was almost the Lunar New Year, yet again. And, yet again, there would be debts uncleared between the two of them. A promise broken, retribution to be paid. But he never showed up to pay. This year, Usagi had made the Senshi an offer, on of the many 'don't tell Mamoru' conversations they so often had. Only most of those involved Usagi's spending, or small fires that she had to call Rei for, as damage control.

This was something a little more complicated.

This time, she'd done something so rash and so lovingly meant that only Usagi could have done it. She'd taken the stones, Mamoru's stones, their stones. She'd taken them and given them to the four people who wished most to destroy them.

She'd taken that huge leap of faith in her Senshi, in eternal love. Minako bit back tears. Easy for her to do, whose prince came for her, through two faithful lifetimes.

Usagi had made a truly valiant effort to convince them all to try talking with the men, to try to make peace this year.

*

"I Have a favor to request. And you're not going to like it, so hear me out first." Usagi had started tentatively, on what had begun as one of the girls' regular meetings at the shrine. They all eyed her oddly, so suddenly serious, after laughing for a solid five minutes.

"Ohhhkay." Makoto supplied for the, in her view, non-schizophrenic side of the table.

"So I've been getting nervous lately. We're already in our twenties, and we have no sign of how to move forward toward Crystal Tokyo. We should have had some sign by now."

"It's still early, Usagi." Ami supplied gently. "And we have to be realistic. It may be meant to be a long time off."

"I keep feeling like that's not it. I think, well, I think it's because there's so much unfinished from the past that we need to fix before we can move forward."

"Like?" Minako asked.

"I think that you need to be happy." Usagi replied, dead-serious.

"Happy?" Makoto asked, her voice quizzical and amused. "Who said we weren't happy?"

"You aren't, never really. None of you. You're always blaming yourselves, blaming the Shitennou for what happened between you, for never being able to love in this life."

"Usagi, you're not serious, right?" Minako queried in full-love Goddess indignation.

"Of course I am. I know how you feel. Mamoru tried to kill me while Beryl controlled him, and I felt like my soul was breaking every moment she had him working for her. What if the same had been true of the Shitennou? Wouldn't..."

Things almost got ugly then as Rei got up to leave,

"That is just insulting to what we've been through, Usagi. They willingly killed us. Allowed your death, and their master's! Don't compare that to what Mamoru did unwillingly."

"You don't know that Rei!" Usagi cried passionately. "None of you know! Don't you want to know? Wouldn't you want them to do the same for you?"

"Don't act like you know either! Don't act like this is an easy choice, one where we have all the answers. Would you really want to raise someone spirit so they could tell you, sorry baby, but I didn't love you enough to deny Beryl, to be loyal to my master. I didn't love you enough to find a way back to you." Rei's voice drifted from a tone like a downpour to a soft patter like snow. Her eye were on the table now, and she lifted them, dark and haunted and hiding nothing, to look at Usagi, "Would you want that?"

Usagi took her hand, even as Rei stiffened.

"Sit Rei. Please?" Her voice achingly gentle, full of love. Rei obliged, her hand still in the blond's. "Yes, I'd want to know. To know that I had made a mistake in loving them and that it's over and that I am free of it. It's time, Rei." She turned her gaze on the others. "You know it's time."

"What if it breaks me?" Makoto asked. "What if I can't handle knowing?"

"You will. You're the strongest women in the universe. You can do this." Usagi chirped in cheerleader mode, trying to lighten the mood.

"But we are still human, Usagi. Some things hurt us just as much as any other person. In some ways, we are just as weak." Ami replied eyes still distant.

Usagi frowned. And Minako became the focus of those searching blue eyes.

"What about you, Minako? You've been quiet on this."

"Hm?" Minako asked, distractedly. "Oh. I don't know, Usagi. Are you sure you need us to do this?"

Usagi nodded.

"And I'd rather you choose to do this. I don't want this to be an order." No one replied. The princess sighed. "I'm going to give them to you. And I trust you to make the right decision."

She picked up her school bag off the floor and pulled out the four black bags and handed one to each of the girls, carefully reading her messy script on the make-shift labels on each bag. She smiled, pointed to the labels as she handed the first bag to Rei.

"So I wouldn't give you the wrong ones. Wouldn't that be awkward." Rei muttered something derogatory under her breath and cautiously took the bag. "And I put chunks of asphalt from the broken parking lot at the arcade back in the box Mamoru keeps them in, just in case he were to move it. I thought, since he never opens it..." She frowned a bit at that, and passed the next bag to Minako, then to Makoto, and finally Ami.

"There, in alphabetical order. I know you'll do what's right. I love you all." She beamed around the table. "But I have to go. Mamoru gets off work soon. I need to be home. Bye!"

And just like that, she was gone, leaving the greatest burden of choice any of the girls had ever borne. They looked at one another, an understanding that they would support one another, no matter what happened, colored each of their expressions. Without a word, the four parted ways to face their past.

*

And now, here she sat, with the stone in her top drawer, calling to her in every moment of the day. She had never been this close to the object, before Usagi decided to challenge her courage. So, she had never realized what it did to her, the power it had.

Instinctively, she knew not to touch it. That if she did, she'd release the spirit trapped within it. And yet she knew she had to.

Moving from the chair with remarkable speed, she crossed the distance to the white wood dresser with the purple crystal knobs and removed the black bag, not daring to stop and allow this courage to fail her.

She tipped the bag over and grimace as she felt the cool weight hit her palm. She looked down, opening one eye, praying that his would not be looking back at her, mockingly her as those eyes always did. There was nothing.

In irritation she looked down at the stone in her hand, which glowed softly, a clear, radiant soft pink stone. But no man. How like him to not be what she expected. Just like that first time. The great terrifying leader of earth's military, smiling at her softly in the moonlight, teasing her, whispering to her about her princess. She shook her head, now was not the time to get lost in what she loved in him, had thought she loved in him; this was the time to let go.

Focusing on the stone, she did what she had not done in peace times in over a millennia. She took a deep breath and called firmly "Kunzite."

Light filled the room and she shielded her eyes as the pink glow flooded the room. The light flashing through the spaces between her fingers finally dissipated. And she could not stop shaking.

"Venus." She choked back a sob, hearing that rich quiet baritone. He never did need to speak loudly to command the room. He didn't now. She finally opened her eyes, knowing she had to face him eventually.

But he wasn't there. She blinked in confusion before she sensed his presence, and looked down, only to find a hulking form with silver hair and a cape kneeling at her feet.

"What...what are you doing?" She asked horrified.

"Bowing." He answered simply, infuriatingly so Minako felt, "The now Queen of Venus and Head of the Senshi ranks above me, who is nothing but a dead, deposed king."

"Oh, by Selene, don't do this. In how many lifetimes will we stand on ceremony? Don't bow to me even in death, please?" She asked his safely bowed head.

And he complied, towering over her by nearly a foot. She wanted to cry, wanted to sing, because he was every bit as beautiful as she dreamed, remembered, she couldn't say for sure. Those sharp features she could run her hands over for endless moments, trying to memorizing their symmetry, the lips she knew so well, that every inch of her knew, even in a new body. His long, graceful limbs, hands that...No, she told herself in shame, none of this is mine. It never was. She meet his eyes. And he was looking at her with look she did not find familiar lighting his eyes.

"Alright. I won't bow to you, if you don't wish it. What reason do you have for calling me, lady?" His eyes not losing that look.

"Because I need your help."

"Anything." He answered without hesitation.

"I need you to tell me what happened, at the end. To...to tell me why you did it. Why you betrayed me. Why you betrayed us all." She looked back at him, and the look's meaning was clearer, longing.

Minako turned, unable to take it.

"Goddess, why do you look at me like that? What is it? What?" She asked in a panic.

"Because I have waited so long for you to do this for me."

"Do what?! I asked you for help!" She yelled at him.

"Yes, exactly. I needed you to do this for me, to ask for the truth. To redeem me. So that I can prove to my master what happened at the end, so I can leave that place," He gestured to the crystal with disgust. Then looking at her with such love she wanted to escape her skin to get away from it. "So I can fulfill what I promised you once, that I would come back for you."

Minako gaped for a while before she sputtered "How-how am I supposed to do that!? I mean, why would I want back someone who betrayed me?"

"Because I didn't willingly. And I know you won't just believe me, because that's the way you are." He smiled at her. "I love that about you. Damn stubborn."

"Hey!" She took a deep breath, shaking her head. She began again in a more composed tone that was less reminiscent of her high school years, "Why am I supposed to believe you?"

"You need to do somethings for me, to make things right. I need you to go find the objects we left for you, using our magic to recording the events as they happened at the end, so you would know why it looks like I simply betrayed you." He steeped forward, taking her hand, their first contact since the fall of the moon. "If you ever loved me, even if you do not now, even if you're not sure of your feelings for me then, do this for me so I can have a chance to serve my duty to my prince."

Agonized, she looked at his stone in one hand, his hand in her other, tears began to slip.

"Will I finally stop hurting like this?" She asked softly. He touched her cheek, unable to help himself.

"I will do everything I can to assure that. I promise you that much. I will do all I can for you, to right what happened between us and all the hurt you've borne." He caressed her softly, and she leaned into the movement without thinking. "Venus, you only have until Lunar New Years, when the moon's power renews, to complete this task. Then I lose my chance for another century, my chance to return. All the other girls have a different challenge ahead of them. You must help them complete them. And all of them must succeed, or none of us can return. You must work with them. Please, Venus, help one another. This will require each of you to grow in ways you never expected."

"Minako."

"What?" He asked, blinking.

"It's my name now, of course. Didn't you think to ask?" She teased.

"Oh course. A new life. A new name. It's beautiful. It suits you." He smiled at her with that tilt of his head that always indicated that playfulness she'd never expected. Just another thing.

Minako shook her head at these thoughts, the millionth ones today that he did not merit. She backed away, the intimacy not appropriate with a man she had promised never to believe. Whom she would not believe, unless she saw proof. Looking up, her cool, carved goddess face on, she meet his eyes. He sighed, they were going gold, which always meant she'd decided to fight.

"Understand me, Kunzite. I do this for me, and for my princess. And I will do this for you only to clear myself of an attachment to a dead man and of a duty to my princess, nothing more." Kunzite nodded, face impassive, just that faint expression of sadness in the eyes. She was among only a handful of people who would ever be able to recognize such subtle changes.

"Very well, My Lady. No matter why you do it, I thank you, Minako." She flushed, hearing her name in that voice for the first time.

"Yes, well. Where do I begin?"

* * *

I should be working on Built, but this would not stay untyped. Reviews are welcome. And My beta reader, VO1, is amazing. Without her, stuff would never get posted.

-goldnheart


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Sailor Moon or the legends this story borrows from. It is just that, borrowing.

* * *

"You'll need to find the first of the three artifacts. They have been scattered throughout the world over time, but they are waiting for you. The sword, the wall, circle. I can give you no more information. It is on the other senshi to help you with that, to retrieve information about this. It is their quest too. And my comrades are not barred from giving them help."

"So then I won't see you again unless I succeed." Minako asked, trying to deny how much the idea hurt her, after feeling what it was like to be really loved again, to have someone look at her like that.

"Not for help, Beloved" He smiled at her, that vulnerability she could never hide from him, as much as she hated it. "But I am here for you if you wish to see me. All you have to do is call me."

Minako nodded, comforted.

"Can you at least tell me where to start?"

"At the beginning. Of course. Where the shouting starts. Your next clue should follow from that. I'll be going now princess, unless you need something." He waited, with that infinite patience.

"Did you love me? Really?"

"Always. And forever."

"Say it, let me hear you say it. You never did say it, well, outside of bed. You had promised me once you would."

"I Love you. I love you no matter what name you bear, no matter what lifetime, no matter what distance, the stars or death. I love you, Minako, my Venus, my only one."

Minako smiled, tears flowing. "Now I have to go see if I can make myself believe it. Goodbye, Kunzite." He smiled back at her, gently.

"Goodbye, Minako."

*

In the beginning, where the shouting starts.

Minako took the hint, and followed her intuition as it took her to the temple. And sure enough, there was shouting.

She followed the trail of fleeing visitors and devotees to the inner fire room, where Rei spent most of her free time when not with the senshi. But she had never heard shouting like this coming out of Rei's sanctuary.

"No. No! Absolutely not. You? Never. I know what you are. How could I?"

And to Minako's discomfort, a male voice answered, "You always denied me Rei. You spent our past life denying what I was to you before everyone, with excuses of status, of propriety. Anything you could use to deny what we had. But you don't have to do that in this lifetime."

Minako's heart clenched at the memories of Rei's tirades whenever Jadeite's name was associated with hers, knowing the truth of what he said.

"My name is Rei. Mars was her name, and that is over. Then does not matter. What matters is that you betrayed me. I don't believe I loved you as much as you believe but now..."

"Stop. Just stop Rei. I loved you, and you loved me. You're blocking your memories. You need to face that. I need you to face that. Until you do, we'll never be able to move on. I need you to accept that what we had. You all have a mission ahead of you. You need to get ready."

"And why should I do this? Who benefits? Only you."

"Rei. You know you need to do this. You know your duty to the dead. I won't argue with you anymore about this, as lovely as you look when we do. Just know that none of the others can move forward unless you all do. While I would love it if you would just do this for us, it is enough if you remember because your sisters need you. Call me if you need me. You know how."

Then silence.

"Minako. You can come out now. I know you're there." Rei's voice called, weary and low.

Sheepishly, Minako turned the corner, perching on Rei's dresser top, only to the beautiful miko sitting at her black vanity, shaking slightly.

"Rei." Minako called softly, so afraid the girl would shatter if she spoke too loudly. Rei turned to look at her,

"What gives him the right to make demands of me? To think I would just whispers soft I love you to him, as if he'd died defending me!" She shook her head, the raven curtains falling in her eyes. "As if I'd ever loved him like that. Never." She added with cold control.

"Rei..."Minako began again, not one to back down from Rei at her worst. "Isn't it possible that you once..." She couldn't finish it in the face of the look of hate from Rei.

"**No**. It would never be possible. That I would love someone that _weak_." She spit the word out, "No. Never."

"But Rei" Minako twirled a bit of her hair between her fingers, thinking of how much she would miss it after this comment, "I remember many occasions of your names being mentioned together, although I never caught you sneaking off to see him like the other girls. But there was always reason in the rumors."

"Oh please! He bothered me all the time; people took his constant visits as some sort of romance. But there was none. I never loved him. He was a friend once, an ally. And he betrayed my trust, not my heart. And that--that was unforgivable."

"Rei, sweetie, how often do you confide in someone you don't love? You of all people know that." Minako prodded gently, aware her flowing locks were already on borrowed time.

"In this life, never. I learned." Rei answered coldly, standing up, "And you can leave."

"Rei, wait. Come on. I'm here to be honest with you. I need your help. I need you to help me remember something."

"Why, are you helping the enemy? Have you gone soft, _Leader_."? Minako felt the twinge of something dark and familiar.

"We've had this argument before." Minako said, bewildered.

"What?" Rei snapped, but less coldly, curiosity peaked.

"Us. We've had this argument before." Minako's eyes scanned back and forth, trying to remember the details. "Goddess, you challenged me over Kunzite, after I allowed him to help plan security for the prince on that last ball. The one they never made it to."

"The one they were banned from later, on the Queen's orders, when we knew something was wrong." Rei replied slowly, memory kicking in.

"And you and I fought over it. And I... I won." Minako's voice shook. "I drew blood, just a drop, but Senshi blood..."

"I took the sign of my disgrace, and sent it to Kunzite. My welcome for him." Rei smiled slightly even a millennia later. Then it fell, and she sighed with a lifetime of knowledge. "We never should have done it. Senshi blood spilt by another senshi...it's cursed."

Minako's muscles tensed.

"The sword. Where it all began. Senshi blood. Oh Goddess, and you sent it to them." Minako got up, holding her head in her hands. "Oh Goddess, Rei! Rei we sent them a cursed sword. Do you remember what Senshi blood does!?"

"What are you talking about, Minako? It kills all life where it falls, it is like salting the land, nothing will ever grow there again."

"No, there was something more. I know it. We need to find Luna and Artemis. Now. I don't feel all bright and happy about this."

*

The unhappy pair made the journey back to Minako's, to find the guardians lounging in a favorite sport, the large white chair that got afternoon sun.

Artemis popped open a weary eye as both sources of warmth left him. He looked up at his charge framed by sunbeam, petting Luna, who affectionately nuzzled her neck.

"What's with sneaking up like that?" He asked crankily.

"Question, cranky. What did you teach us about senshi blood?" The cat sat up, suddenly alert.

"Why would you need to know that?" Luna jumped down to join him, matching his disapproving gaze.

"Not this life, no worries." She patted her guardian lightly on the head. "It's just left over memories were trying to sort out. Nothing that big." Artemis frowned.

"Why do you need to know now?"

"Just remembered, the memories trickle in. It might be important later if I just got it back now. So, what's the deal?"

"It's cursed." Luna said simply. Rei smirked.

"Yes, we established that much." The raven beauty answered.

"Well..." Artemis started uncomfortably, "It causes dissent and discord."

"So, if it touches you, it will curse you. Understood, so what's the big deal with that? You just don't get touched by it."

"No, Rei, oh merciful Selene, if Ami were here...No." Luna answered sharply, " There is a reason I taught you never to shed blood. The repercussions are unending. An item touched by it will curse the keeper to strife and dissent in all their relationships. It was a last ditch effort tactic for the senshi, when they had no chance of winning, to shed one another's blood. Then fight the enemy with that weapon, knowing that the enemy would self-destruct after their deaths or that their army would fall apart, leaving the enemy defenseless against the other sisters. Only senshi were immune."

Rei stood perfectly still, hardly breathing.

"Oh my god." She looked at Minako, "No. It can't have, it can't..."

"What? What's going on?" Luna, looking from girl to girl.

Minako felt her hair stand on end.

"Luna, was there any way to reverse the curse? To remove it?"

Luna sat for a moment.

"There was. The two who set the curse most offer their own blood willingly, asking it to be lifted."

Minako looked at Rei.

"We've got a sword to find, Rei." Rei nodded not looking at her.

"A sword, what are you talking about? This is getting frustrating!" Artemis whined.

"Rei and I, in the Silver Millenium, we fought and I cut her. The object is cursed, we need to recover it, and reverse it."

Luna swallowed hard.

"I remember. In the last days. It was a dark omen. Love and strife at war." She looked at them sadly, "We would need to find it, because it can do too much harm if ever found, but it was probably destroyed on the moon."

"How will we recognize it?" Minako asked casually, "Just in case someone picked it up."

"Naturally, it would be a Venusian metal, since it was your sword, so it should have a white hot shine to it and should have your emblem on it. And it should call to you both."

"Um, Minako, I think that's enough 'what if's. We should go." Rei stood calmly. Minako followed her lead, wishing she could follow her thinking. "Bye you two, go back to working on sixteen hours of sleep."

The pair exited a little too quickly, leaving the bewildered guardians staring.

"Do you understand what that was all about?" Luna asked, still looking at the door.

"No clue." Her partner answered.

"Call Usagi."

"Absolutely."

*

"Rei! Where are we going?!" Minako asked, jogging to keep up with the woman practically flying across the pavement.

"I think there is a place we had better look." Minako kept silent, trying to guess where she was headed. The shrine, the crystal tower, the arcade, any of the usual point of energy anomalies. She was confused, to say the least, when the purple head took a sharp right into the train station.

"Rei, why are we..." Rei just smiled over her shoulder for just a second before stopping at the counter to buy two tickets. Minako stood at her shoulder as she called out,

"Two, please, for Atsuta-ku, Nagoya." She waited as the man printed the tickets and passed them on to Rei. "Thank you." Rei smiled brightly at Minako.

"We've got a shrine to visit."

*

"You don't seriously think this is the Kusanagi no Tsurugi." Minako asked incredulously. "And even if it was, no one has even confirmed the sword is at this shrine. And why would this sword have been my sword?"

"Undefeateable, beautiful, other worldly, around for a thousand years, and supposedly cursed. Responsible for the death of an emperor." Rei looked at her as though daring her to counter her logic, "Can you seriously think there is no chance this is yours?"

"Rei, do you know how many legendary swords there are out there? By your logic, my sword could be in any collector's case." She pulled closer to the priestess as an old woman shot her a dirty look.

"No, Minako. This is different. Do you know it's other name, it's older name? Or how it was found?"

"Well..."The English raised beauty frowned.

"Thought so. It's called Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, sword of heaven's gathering clouds." She smiled softly at Minako. "Don't you remember your home?"

"Magellan." The blond formed the word lovingly. "The castle in the sky."

"The clouds would have been carved on your sword, as the emblem of your house. The crows were on mine."

"The emblem. Alright, it's possible." It got dark, as they passed through a tunnel.

"It's more than possible, it's uncanny." Rei said proudly. "And legend says the sword was recovered from the body of a monster. Does that not sound like one of the early monsters we encountered under Beryl? The ones made from objects?" Minako sighed. The light returned.

"Possible, Rei, I'll grant you it. But many say the shrine does not have the sword, that it was lost."

"I know, I know, at sea. But this is the best shot we have. At least we have to look. We should feel drawn to it, remember?"

Minako sat back in her tiny seat anxiously, looking at her companion. She nodded. Rei sat back too, a satisfied expression on her face. She jumped a bit as her leader put her head on her shoulder.

"Minako..." Her voice gentle, trying to keep the anxiety from it at this weak moment from the other girl.

"What if we did this to them? What if...if they could have fought Beryl and won if we had not sent the sword?" Rei was silent, and looked out the window at the gray world rushing past her.

"Then we have much to atone for to. This is the first step."

Neither spoke again.

*

They arrived in the station late, when all there was for light was the orange faint glow of street-lamps.

"Rei...it's so late. How are we supposed to go there now?" Rei's lips, deep red in the light, drew themselves into a sharp smile.

"Exactly, perfect cover. I am miko. I always have the right to seek shelter at a shrine. And they won't turn you away if you're with me. Especially if I name-drop my grandfather." Minako shook her head in awe.

"You had this planned the whole time?"

"Not really, but it helps now doesn't it?"

"So you were just going down here without a plan?"

"So you were just following me without one?"

"Fine." Minako brushed back her hair haughtily. "Let's just find this place."

*

Forty angry minutes later, they had arrived at the shrine and Rei had successful negotiated, whined, and lightly threatened their way into shelter for the night. Because the others were asleep for the night, the pair had not been housed with the other miko but with in small guest room near the fire room, since Rei had asked to be put where she could do service to the shrine with her gifts. That conveniently put them in a room close to the grounds for easy examination.

"Rei" Minako whispered, as they both dawned the loaned miko grab, "How are we supposed to find it? They don't show it to the public!"

"Oh Minako, where's your adventurous spirit? We just need to concentrate on the object. It should call to us, remember."

"I know, I know. But still."

"Come on, meditate with me, we need to get a feel for it. And we already know it is not in the treasures pavilion, which removes a big part of the property." Minako grumbled some more, but joined Rei to go to the sacred fire.

"We should probably take out our henshi. They are all we have of ourselves that was there then. And a little help from our planets can't hurt." Minako suggested removing hers as they knelt, adjusted their robes. Rei nodded, and pulled out hers as well.

"Venus Power." The orange glow surrounded them.

"Mars Power." The red glow joined the orange, and Rei started the prayer.

"...And guide us to sword, so we may undo our damage." Rei finished.

The fire flared and the girls shielded their eyes.

"Rei!" Minako cried, "My henshi...it's"

"Mine too!" Rei called back as the wand began to spin in her hand. "Look, Minako! It's stopping and starting when I turn." The Miko stood and took a couple of tentative steps one way, and it began to spin violently. She stepped back and it began to slow down.

"Okay," Minako smiled, "Looks like we've got guides here. Come on, Mars, let's follow."

The pair raced into the courtyard, following the direction of the spin. It lead them around the treasure pavilion, and through the main courtyard, back to the back part of the shrine. They reached an unkempt part of the grounds. Then abruptly the spinning stopped and the henshi shined.

"I think," Minako called, looking up at the old tree in front of them, "We're here."

"But where?" Re answered. The pair walked the circumference of the tree, walking head first into one another. They both swore, slapping at the other. But the wands did not move. Minako frowned.

"Maybe..." She tenuously raised the object up, and the glow faded. She gulped. Slowly, she moved the wand back down, lowering it to the ground. The glow grew and pulsed as she set her hensin on the ground. She looked at Rei. "We dig?"

"With what?" Rei asked incredulously.

"Our hands?" Minako asked sweetly.

"There has got to be a better way." Rei replied, "That'll take years. And they'll all be up by then. Dawn is soon." She pointed to the purpling horizon.

"I don't know. I wish we had Ami." Minako kicked at the ground. "Should we try her on the communicator?"

"If she hasn't seen Zoicite yet...probably not a good idea. And knowing her, she'll have wanted to sleep on the idea." Rei sighed, "Maybe you could try calling it like the crystal sword."

Minako thought for a moment. "Worth a shot." She stuck out her hand and casually called out, "Sword of my house, return to me. I claim you." She held out her hand for a few moments and nothing.

"Oh well." Minako shrugged, "I tried, I guess we need a shovel."

Then the ground started to shake.

"Minako!"

"Oh damn." Was all the girl could say as erupting out of the ground came a blazing white sword. It hurled itself toward her as she watched in horror. She dropped to the ground, shaking, as it stuck itself in the ground at her feet. Rei stood stock still in shock.

"Oh my god! Minako! Sweet Goddess!" She knelt next to her. "I thought for a second."

"Oh, me too, Rei. Me too." They both sat there for a few moments. "We need to lift the curse on this thing so we can move it."

"Agreed. You had better call the crystal sword, unless you carry a knife with you." Minako ignored the snark and called for her sword.

"I don't know if I'm doing this right or not..." Minako replied nicking her palm on the crystal sword. She hissed as it cut into her flesh. She held the bleeding limb over cursed sword and called out softly but firmly "This blood I give freely, in honor of my love for my sister senshi, may we never be parted. And may the blood we shed on this in anger be removed by blood shed for love." The blood hissed as it hit the white hot metal. Rei repeated the gesture.

Then the light on the sword faded, and an inscription began to from where the blood had left a trail down the blade. It read only,

"All fails since to me you came. Love strife, strife sends you. Now my brothers, I know them not." Rei reached out to stroke the words.

"I know this hand. Jadeite's script, as in all the letters. All the trees sacrificed so he could tell me he loved me, many times a day. He wrote this inscription."

"But why would he have had it. I thought you sent it to Kunzite." Rei's eyes filled with tears.

"I did! But Jadeite was the weapon's master. It would have been in his care. And a gift from me, to the earth, he would have kept it in his possession."

"Oh Rei." Minako wrapped an arm around the girl who tried to shake her off violently for several moments before at last the miko let herself be held. "Come on, we need to get out of here." She began frantically packing the dirt back down with her feet before giving up on the effort and just grabbing the sword, putting it and the crystal sword back in her space pocket. She grabbed the two henshi and hustled Rei off back to the room where they packed up quickly, left a note of thanks, and fled back to the train station. They boarded the train at dawn.

The huddle together, exhausted, in the tiny seats.

"Another earthquake last night." A young business man commented to the older man next to him in the row in front of them. "Except the epicenter wasn't on any known fault. They're still looking it to it."

"Strange." The older man commented. The girls looked at one another nervously, looking at dried blood on their palms. Rei snuggled closer to Minako.

"He was thinking of me even at the end, as it all fell apart. 'Love strife', he was wondering why I had done this to him. What I had done to make it all go wrong. Yet he loved me," Minako felt the tears seeping through her sweater. "Minako, he did love me. How he loved me! How could I have forgotten his letters?!? And I, I loved to him too. Goddess help me, I loved him, and I cursed him." Minako held her tighter, the whispered words of agony cutting her own heart.

"I did it too, we all did, for allowing them to come between us, for making love something we fought about."

"I really did love him, and you Kunzite, and the others."

"Yes...It seems we did. And they we were equally culpable in the fall. Goddess help us. We need to find the others. Ami is closest."

* * *

Yeah! Finally done. More shortly. Thank you to my Beta Reader, VO1, who is amazing.


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own Sailor Moon or the legends this story borrows from. It is just that, borrowing.

* * *

They awoke hours later back in Tokyo.

"Do we just go over now?" Minako asked, hissing as the cold rushed to meet the morning commuters entering the city.

"I know what you're thinking, but it's Ami, not you. She won't be sleeping in until noon." Minako was tempted to make a remark, but let it go, realizing she had little defense, and turned to walk with Rei toward Ami's home.

*

The tasteful if austere white, blue, and black of Ami's living room made Minako's heart wrench for a moment. It was true that she had willingly chosen to leave home as soon as her income from modeling allowed it, but somehow walking into this space, shared so peacefully by the mother and daughter, made her long for home. Or maybe it was just the warmth of Ms. Mizuno's smile. Either way, she felt a loneliness hit her that she had not been expecting.

"You're both welcome, of course, but Ami isn't in this morning. She went out early for a swim at school." Ms. Mizuno frowned slightly, "She didn't seem herself, is that why you girls are here so early? Did she say something?"

"No, we also felt something was up though. We came to check in, so we should go see her. If we find out anything, we'll be sure to let you know." Rei said in a perfectly poised way that Minako envied.

"You girls have been wonderful friends to her. I can see how much she's grown since you all met. It's truly remarkable." The older woman said wistfully.

"Well, we can't take all the credit for that." Minako said gently. Rei smiled at the weight in those words.

"Still. You're all quite something. Anyways, I'm being sentimental. I should let you all go find her. Come over more often. It's nice to have the company."

"Of course." Rei answered with a bow, which Minako seconded, "Thank you for the help. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, ladies."

*

The furious beating of the water assured them that Ami was in the pool, although all they could see was a small crowd gathered to watch. They took seats along the edge of the pool and waited for the petite girl to surface. To much applause, a blushing Ami emerged for the pool, nodding politely, before she saw the two forms, one light, one dark, seated at the edge of the water. Grabbing her towel, she padded over to the girls.

"You two look tired. Long night?" She asked, settling next to Rei.

"Understatement. You too?"

"Yeah. A sleepless, endless night before a morning you don't want to face." The others nodded, remembering too many nights that fit the description.

"But you faced it?" Minako replied, looking at the stilling water.

"Yes. I did. And all that came with it, or who, to be more specific."

"What happened?" Minako asked.

"Well, it was he. As beautiful and warm and considerate as I remembered, as the man I loved once. And he and I just talked, for a long time; I asked him questions, and he directed me to you, or to look into myself for the answers. He said I must help redeem him, isn't it strange? The man I once loved, and who betrayed me, to ask me for such a favor." The other two girls looked at her with empathy as she talked almost to herself. "It's not rational. So, why do I feel compelled to help him still? How does that make sense?"

Rei and Minako looked at each other in concern, knowing the feeling well, knowing what was unsaid.

"Ami..." Rei started. "We have some information we think may be useful to you now, that we only learned yesterday. Minako..."

"Can we go to the somewhere more private, please?" Minako requested, seeing the few professors and students starting to arrive to use the early morning swim hours. Ami blinked in surprise, but led them to the locker room where she pulled on warm-ups and then led them out of the building and over to another hall, up some stairs, and into a small room with a piano in it.

"The rehearsal rooms. Sound proof." Minako thanked the gods again that Ami was her logistics expert and not her enemy. They'd all have been doomed long ago, well, again.

"Alright, yesterday, we found this." Minako removed the sword, seeing Ami jump back slightly as a large metal object appeared out of thin air, then take a step forward to read the inscriptions.

"Your sword, Venus? That is what the marker at the top is, correct?" Minako nodded. "And that inscription...who is it by? It was surely not your own."

"No. Jadeite wrote that, sometime just before the fall." Ami's hand, which had been tracing the inscription, trying to place it, drew back as if scalded by the very idea of their lovers in that last week.

"This sword!" Ami said in horror, "The one you two fought with, the one that, oh goddess, the one that you drew blood with Minako. This is it, isn't it?"

"Sadly, the very same."

"Then if he had it to inscribe it that last week, he had it after it was cursed!" Ami's voice got progressively more frantic. "But how did he get it? Why was it there?"

Rei, pale as death, raised a hand, "I believe that dubious honor is my own. I didn't know that part of the legend, we had only been told about the effects it had on the battlefield, like salting the land...I never" She swallowed hard, taking a deep breath and looking up at the ceiling, blinking hard, and then met Ami's eyes, swallowing again, "I didn't know what an object like that could do. I never heard the story." Ami's eyes met hers, hard shards of ice.

"And you never asked me, never checked before sending a curse on the men we loved, no, on an entire kingdom?"

"I had no idea that I should even have been suspicious of it, no basis to ask. I knew nothing, Ami. You kept the old lore, not me. I had no idea such evil could come of this. I sent it in anger, a threat, but not as a weapon. I meant no harm to them. Honestly, Ami."

"Only because you all never bothered to learn the old stories, you were too focused on your own tasks-you to the temples and the oracle, Minako to the palace guard and security, and Makoto to the infrastructure of the castle-to share the weight of my burden with me. And now see what it has brought us to!" Ami cried in fury; an anger buried for a thousand years, the old grudge, brought to life again.

Rei and Minako reeled back as though slapped, the memories long suppressed remembered.

"You were just as bad, Mercury. You always ignored my warning as guesses and speculation. Superstitions. If you had listened to me, we would have changed the water supply flowing into the barracks that last morning. The half of our soldiers would not have died that night from poisoning instead of defending us from Beryl! And what of Minako and I's battle...did you raise on hand to stop us? Did you make any mention of the consequences?"

"Enough." Minako said definitively, the leader not the friend. "Enough of this. We made mistakes the last time. Dividing up the labor as our mothers did clearly did not work for our team of senshi. But we are not the same in this life. We were not trained apart first, on our own planets, only to be brought to the moon to live lives which relied on one another but which rarely intersected, as we each performed the tasks assigned to us without help. In this life, we all trained together, we all solve the problems together, and we all face the consequences together. We made mistakes, but this is not just the Shitennou's second chance. It is our own as well."

The three looked hard at one another. Finally, each lowered their eyes, aware of their own role in the death of paradise: the one who drew the blood, the one who sent the bomb, and the one who said nothing to stop it.

"I need to think about what to do now." Ami said, her voice gentle again, sitting down on the floor. "Now that I know this, I have to figure out what he wanted me to do. To 'renew our promise, to bless our love, and reverse our luck. Then I will know that love does not fade in dark times, or in separation. This is the last thing we hold on to. That such a love is still a part of you, not your past.'" Ami repeated back the phrase for the other two. She smiled at them wanly. "You're right, Minako, we are not who we once were. You never would have come to me with this problem in our past lives, unless you could not read the inscription. And I never would have told you what I just did. I'm sorry Rei."

"I am too, Ami. I just got defensive and I lost my temper, I never should have said that."

"No, it was true then. Let's not get into argument with versions of ourselves that died for their weaknesses." Ami replied.

"Right. We all failed last time, but we'll never be better than that if we give in to old anger." Minako replied, smiling.

"I'll let you guys know when I figure something out, I need some time to think." Ami relied, standing again, picking up her bag. "And you two get some sleep, you look terrible."

*

An hour later, Minako was all settle in her bed, trying to rest. Rei had gone home too, muttering something about needing to talk to her idiot, the shadow of the argument and all the memories hanging over them both. Still, Minako found something to smile about in their odd endearments.

She sat up, unable to rest, the meaning of the sword and the knowledge of her own failing too fresh in her mind. She glanced at the dresser nervously. If anyone could understand how guilty she felt, it was he. To be the leader, and to fail so monumentally.

She padded to the dresser, and thought briefly about changing into something more attractive than sweats. She shook her head, and promised to never tell that to Rei or she would never stop calling her vain. Instead, she grabbed the bag and removed the stone, calling him back again. In a less dramatic flash, he was back again, flesh and bone, as Ami had said, so much the man I loved.

"You look so tired, beautiful. You should rest." Kunzite said, his eyes gentle. Minako shifted slightly at the affection that was too genuine to feel safe.

"I can't, though, not after last night."

"Did something happen?" He asked.

"We found my sword." She looked at him for a response, but got none. "And then we fought about it, about how we had let it happen, sent something to make you so vulnerable. How had I been so poor a leader that it came to that? How could I have done that to you? What was it like, at the end there?"

"Trying..." He said hoping to ease the truth when she'd already had such a day, "I just didn't understand why I distrusted my brothers, my prince, why I even began, at the very end, to doubt you. It is better now, to understand why it was so easy for Beryl to turn us against one another and against you. But you will need to explain it all to my prince, at the end of all this."

"Of course, it was my own fault."

"No, it was not your fault alone, all of us were weak. We should have been more careful, accepting gifts from the moon, when we knew chaos was affecting people's minds. But let's not forget, this was not what any of us intended. Ultimately, we were all Beryl's pawns."

"But I was leader, it was my job to see those weaknesses and overcome them."

"I've wrestled with that too." Minako felt strangely comforted that he did not try to tell her to just not blame herself, as all the others would. "But I had to accept that this was a power greater than me. I was too weak to overcome it. We all were." Minako nodded.

"We're better now, do you know that?" She asked him, a hint of desperation in her voice, a need to hear him say it too.

"I know you are. You could never have found the sword or known what it meant if you were not a better team now. And that would not be possible if you were not a better leader."

"Usgai is more a leader than me." Minako quipped.

"As she always should have been, as my prince was for us. " He sighed, "And it does not mean you are not a better leader just because she is there. The chain of command is just in place again, where you answer directly to your master."

"Did we do right, Rei and me, to go on that mission alone?" She asked, changing the subject, which she needed to mull over more.

"You were the only two who needed to stop denying their memories, and the only two who had to atone for that error."

"So what do I do now?"

"You followed Rei's path, now you need to follow Ami's. She will tell you what you need to know. Her task is also yours." She nodded, walking over to her bed, and sitting in it, shrinking into a ball as she pulled her knees to her chin. She looked at him blankly. His heart ached for her. "You really need to sleep. I will go now, but I'm here if you need to talk again."

"No, wait." She lifted her head, and focused on him. "Don't go. Stay with me, just for a little while. I'm not ready to be alone with my guilt yet. Please, just sit with me." She patted the bed. He inhaled sharply at the gesture he had seen so often before, an invitation. He hesitated, knowing where that led. Then he walked to sit with her; he would not let it go where it always did. They were not the same. As she said, they were better. So instead of falling on one another, he stroked her hair, she laid her head on the pillow, and he watched her fall into an uneasy sleep.

*

Too soon, in Kunzite's mind, the communicator on her nightstand began to flash. He put out his hand to steady the golden senshi as she rolled toward the communicator. She murmured thanks as she pressed the central button.

"Venus, go Mercury." She frowned as she was met with giggles.

"You were dead to the world there, weren't you Minako. This is more of a personal note than business." Minako sat up, shaking her head.

"Yeah, sorry about that Ami. Old habits die hard."

"No problem. I just told Rei to meet me over at your place in half an hour. I think I know what I need to do, but I'd like to discuss it with both of you."

"Of course. I'll see you in a few. Bye Ami."

"Bye Minako. Oh, and tell Kunzite I say hello." Minako blushed, as the man next to her smiled slightly. The screen went dark.

"Hi there." Minako said shyly, walking up with this gorgeous man smiling down at her.

"Hello to you too." Kunzite murmured, trying to keep from laughing at the self-proclaimed love goddess, suddenly a blushing girl. Minako caught the tone and smiled up at him brightly.

"No exactly as you're used to seeing me, huh? Needing a bath and in sweats."

"Sweats?" He asked.

"Never mind." She laughed, "I guess that's this century. It's what I'm wearing. I doubt I ever let you see me anything less than perfect."

"You know you're always beautiful. Even when you say you could be better, it's wrong how lovely you are. Positively dangerous."

"Oh?" A blond eyebrow arched. "Dangerous how?" She purred, without thinking, the response so natural. Kunzite raised an eyebrow in reply.

"I think you know very well how when you ask like that." A rush of images made Minako blush again, and Kunzite smirk lightly, wondering exactly how much she remembered.

"I'm...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I just, it just, well, I didn't even think before I said it."

"Don't worry. I understand, you're still Venus, Minako. Some things are in your blood."

"Old habits..." Minako started the phrase again, before laughing, "Theme of the week, huh? At least in some ways. Hopefully only the good."

"I'll second that wish. I can already see you're different from Venus, both softer and stronger."

"How so?"

"It's hard to explain. Venus was magnificent, but she could be so cold. She could just shut off her feelings and act without emotion. I respected that then, but now, looking back, it was terrifying at times. And her commitment to her job seemed shallow to me, when she explained it, that she was committed to her job, but not to her princess, who she barely knew." He looked in her eyes, "You can be, and in ways already are, so much stronger than her because you believe in who you protect and because you lead with your heart and your head."

"Really?" Minako positively glowed under his praise, leaning toward him. Kunzite held his breath. Her proximity, her beauty, and that expression left him weak. She could only have one intention, getting that close to him. And as much as he wanted to pretend he was immune to her now, being technically dead and all that, she was still Venus. And she would always have him at her beck and call.

Her lips curved into a smile at his frozen form; a part of her, long held back, demanding free reign. Kunzite frowned, knowing that if she kissed him, they'd both want more. Knowing that anything more would break the promise he made which allowed him to come back.

"Venus, please, we can't. I can't." He begged softly.

"I'm not Venus now." She said in sultry whisper, "As you said, I'm_ better_." Kunzite swallowed hard at the implications.

"You're doing this because of what I had with Venus, not because of what you, Minako, wants now. You'll regret this." He cautioned as she slid into his lap.

"I'll decide that."

She touched the back of his neck. But destiny intervened in the form of a doorbell, giving Kunzite the presence of mind to return to the stone quickly. Minako snapped out of it, and ran to open the door thinking to herself 'what the hell was that? Since when do I act like that? I loved him then, but I don't know him now! What was I doing?!'.

Rei, when the door opened, looked pretty bad herself.

"Hey." She muttered as she walked in, avoiding Minako's eyes.

"Hey." She sat in the armchair. "How did things go with the idiot?" Rei looked murderous.

"They were _fine_ until he started questioning me. He sat there very patiently and listened while I told him about the sword and about my guilt and about remembering loving him then. But then he had to go and ask me if I wanted him still, me, not Mars. And how am I supposed to know that! I barely know what it means to be me rather than Mars right now. I thought we were the same, but now, after what happened with Ami, I have no idea."

"I know the feeling. I didn't know who I was before at all until this happened, or any of us. From what Kunzite was telling me, I don't know if I like that Venus so much."

"And me that Mars. I was so much more insecure and desperate to prove myself, like how I was when Usagi and I first met. I don't know who I am, now that I know what I was."

"Maybe this is what Kunzite mean when he said this would push us to grow in ways we never imagined."

"Maybe. Was that today he said that?"

"No, but it just occurred to me. Today did not go so well, I, I tried something I would never try. It was like this thing inside of me I'd forgotten."

"What?" Rei asked, concerned.

"I tried to seduce him, the first time it was just a comment, but then later..." She shook her head at the memory, "Since when have I been _that_ bold!" She laughed a little.

"I..." Rei bit her lip, "I did the same thing. We were fighting and he was yelling and then all of a sudden I was kissing him! I don't know what came over me; I just did it. He returned to the stone immediately. I don't know if I can face him."

"Somehow, I have a feeling you've done that before with him."

"But does that mean I love him now? I don't know if it does. I don't know if I've forgiven him still for" She couldn't say it, but Minako knew, touching her own stomach as though deflecting the blade. "I know I weakened him by sending the sword but how could he just forget loving me and be able to do that still?" Minako nodded, but said nothing, the same thoughts in her own head. Mercifully, the doorbell went off a few minutes later.

Ami patted Minako's shoulder as she walked in, and sat next to Rei.

"I think I know what I need to do." The other two looked at her nodding. "The clue was in his wording, if I'm right, 'blessing'. I think he wants me to leave an offering for our love to be renewed, for me to, as myself in this life, accept our love and pray for the strength to forgive him."

"An offering." Rei, said, looking at Minako. The blond shook her head.

"You don't think..."

"I do."

"What?" Ami asked, confused.

"We found the sword at a shrine, and if the wording is any indication, you're meant to go to a shrine too. If he wants you to 'pray' and seek a 'blessing' and leave an 'offering', he must mean a shrine."

"Exactly," Ami agreed, "That was what I had been thinking, although it is a little coincidental that both would be a shrines." She paused, brow wrinkling.

"Think of it this way, these shrines are all newer than the fall. So, the objects were not all left at shrines originally. What if the shrines were just put up around places of power, with a great draw, and that is why both will be found at shrines." Ami nodded again, looking slightly uncomfortable with it still.

"But where? There are so many shrines."

"One known for _love!_" Minako said with flourish, Rei went to slap her for being stupid when she stopped.

"Oh my god, AMI! The Kiyomizudera shrine in Kyoto, where Okuninushi Kami is honored."

Ami's big blue eyes widened further,

"No. It's too perfect. It can't be. It's not logical." Ami said. Rei put her hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"No, friend, if it's destiny, it's possible." Ami smiled back, their argument in her mind.

"You're right. I won't forget to listen again, Rei."

"What are you talking about?" Minako asked, her Japanese history always less complete than the other two girls.

"The love kami is honored at a shrine called the Kiyomizudera, the shrine of _pure water_."

"Oh for heaven's sake...what are we waiting for? Any clearer, and they'd have just told us where to go. Another long night on a train, ladies." Minako said, grabbing her keys, and going to the door, flinging it open dramatically. Her stomach growled loudly. She shut the door, looking disgruntled for a moment before lifting up her finger and declaring, "But first, ramen!"

*

Back on the train, the three huddled together whispering.

"God, we couldn't just wait a day, Minako? Couldn't just sleep and start out fresh tomorrow?" Rei asked sharply, trying to get comfortable in the window seat.

"No, we have one week till the New Year, and we have to still help Makoto when we get back. And what if that takes more time? And what if this takes longer than a day? And we still need to tell Usagi and Mamoru about all this." She ticked off the events on her hand.

"Fine, fine. I get it. I'm here, aren't I? Hey, Ami?" Rei called.

"Yes?" The blue head of hair leaned into view.

"Have you thought of what your offering will be yet?"

"I…" Ami, flushed slightly, "I was going to see what there was when I got there." Rei looked concerned, but kept quiet. Brushing off the worry, she smiled at Ami

"Hey, did you hear what Minako did today...she tried to seduce Kunzite!"

"Hey!"

"Oh my, well, that's hardly news, is it?" The both started to laugh

"HEY!"

"Young lady! Some of us are trying to work!" An older man ahead of them reprimanded Minako.

"Oh, sorry, sorry..."

*

One asinine trip later, which continued much along the let's-tease-Minako-until-she-threatens-unending-training-sessions line. When they arrived in the later afternoon sun, and made haste to get to the shrine just before it closed. Ami stepped to the side to buy some sheets of paper and flowers to make offerings with. Rei again made a face, but walked with them up to the inner shrine that held honored the love Kami.

Once inside, Ami sent fog all over the grounds to give them some privacy as they sneaked offered their prayers. Ami dutifully scrawled the character for forgiveness, love, and luck and then them before the altar and offered prayers silently. When she finished, she stood.

"How do I know if it worked?" She asked the other two.

"I think you should know." Minako said gently. "We knew pretty quickly yesterday."

"Rei?" Ami asked the silent miko. "What do you think?"

"She's right, we should have seen something." Rei paused before continuing, "Did that offering mean something to you, Ami?"

"What do you mean, did I write something wrong? Was my flower choice incorrect?"

"No, I mean, did it come from your heart, from your soul? An offering has to have meaning, be infused with the power of your desire for your wish to come true. Did you do that?" Ami looked uncomfortable with the idea. Rei smiled at her. "Give an offering of your true feelings, then maybe we'll see if this was the right place."

"But what should I give, I don't know what would be appropriate. I only know what I feel." Rei looked pensive for a moment, then smiled, grabbing up some of the paper Ami had bought.

"Then do what makes sense for you, write it out, honestly, then leave it with the flowers." Ami looked skeptical, but took the paper and a pen and sat with her backs to them for some time, writing, at first slowly, and then furiously. At length, she put down the pen and folded the paper, putting it with the flowers.

A faint glow began around the statue in the middle.

"I think it's working!" Minako cried happily. Ami stood, turned around, smiling through her tears.

"But it should be brighter. Last time, we both had to do something to make the sword react. I think we need to follow Ami's lead." Rei said, sitting down in Ami's relinquished seat. "Come on Minako, let's finish this before we kicked out."

Minako joined her, taking another pen, as offered by Ami, and the pair wrote out all the pain, all the misconceptions, and all the insecurity. In writing it out, both felt a weight lifted as they realized all of that mattered less than how much the men had given them, and helped them remember in these few short days, than the better women they were for knowing them, than how much they needed them, and loved them, still.

The two, much lighter, left the notes, forgiving the men, both on the paper and in their hearts, and stood back as the figure of the deity glowed more brightly and bowed, revealing the wall behind him, which was glowing in the cracks between the layers of plaster and paint.

"Ami! Look!" Minako whispered, grabbing her arm as the light started.

"Hold on." The small girl tapped her earring, the visor descending. She whipped out her compact and began typing. "There is something under there. I think I can, yeah, wait a second."

In a moment, the visor flashed and projected red letters onto the old plaster. No one breathed as the four passages materialized on the wall.

"Kami!" Rei said in an agonized whisper, sinking to her knees. Minako's hand's fisted, but she stayed standing. Ami bit her lip as she kept pushing buttons on the laptop, avoiding the letters. Then she stopped.

"Oh my god, Minako, it's..."

"Blood." The leader finished. "One for each of us. Make sure you take down Makoto's for her, Ami."

"Minako, will you read it? I can't." Ami said, returning to her typing. "I just can't do it. And I need to save an image of it for Makoto, and I want to take some readings."

Minako, always the strongest at times like this, braced herself and read.

"What am I to do, here in this impenetrable darkness, without any star to guide me? I cannot hear anything but the screams of my men dying because I won't accept her will. And you, I fear I'll never see again. My heart is barren without your love."

"I am nothing without your warmth to sustain me. I know this now, for I am growing numb inside. I can't remember my name but I know the color of your eyes."

Rei began to sob silently. Minako took another deep breath.

"Everything is death and blood. I know you're dead, I saw it happen. The world must have ended, because there is nothing of beauty left with you gone. What will I become without your love to cleanse my soul?"

The message started to warble as Ami held her hands over her eyes.

"Ami, please, just a few more moments!" Minako cried, desperate. Frantically, she read the last part:

"Morning star, yours is the last light calling me back from the edge. I don't know if you are still out there, if I need only wait till the night ends, and there you'll be. I've seen you die so many times now, I don't know what to believe. Forgive what I become in this darkness, for I cannot see what I do."

At that, Minako leaned back against the wall behind her, everything coming together.

"You can left it go, Ami. Thank you for holding on so long." Her logistics expert nodded, and let the image go.

"They were chronological, Minako, all a day apart. The last one was the day before the attack." Ami said, touching her earring again, the visor fading away.

"This is what they were thinking as they gave into Beryl. This is what they wanted us to see, to understand." Minako replied. "How they lost touch with anything good they could have held onto, to save them from evil. How they were deceived, believing us dead."

"That could have been us, if circumstances had been different." Ami said softly, "How can you blame them for something we could have done?"

"It's worse than that, Ami." Rei said, tear marks on her face, now eerily calm, "We did do what they did. We gave into darkness too, let it weaken us; let it make us fight one another. Only we had not been held and brainwashed for a week, so we were still able to stand and fight for our homes that last day."

The girls fell silent, looking at the wall, knowing what lay underneath by heart.

"Come on," Minako said standing, "we need to get to Makoto. She needs to know, and she'll need our help."

The girls rose and followed. Together, three figures stepped out of the shrine and into the fog.

* * *

Yeah! That's done. Sorry for the delay. The other chapters should be out much sooner since the rest of the story is written at this point, barring any crazy decision on my part. Once again, thanks for everyone who reviewed! I tried to fulfill requests. And much gratitude to VO1, who I have swamped this week, and who has come through marvelously.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own Sailor Moon or the legends this story borrows from. It is just that, borrowing.

* * *

They were back in Tokyo by ten.

"It's getting late," Rei said as they steeped of the train, "Do we still go? Or do we wait till morning."

"We should go, it's not that late. And nights like this alone...I think she'd appreciate the company. Remember, she's still dealing with this alone."

"You're right." Ami agreed, watching the train pull away, "That was a bad night, and I had not even seen him yet. She will have called him by now."

"Then let's go see our sister." Minako said, leading the way off the platform.

*

By the time they got to the quiet row of apartments Makoto lived in, there were only a handful of apartments with lights on. The girls noted that Makoto's was among them. They took the elevator up to the fourth floor. The door was slightly ajar.

Looking to one another, the girls quickly opened the door. Instantly, they were hit by a wave of vanilla and chocolate. Ami closed the door slowly, and it clicked behind them as Rei and Minako followed the yellow glow into the kitchen.

It was eerily quiet as they approached slowly, cautiously. Faint noises made them stop. It wasn't until an unmuffled sob pierced the air that the girls rushed in.

Makoto, bewildered, looked up at the blond head hurling itself at her.

"Oh Makoto, come here honey." Minako said, trying to fill in for Usagi, who would always be the one to offer affection when someone cried.

The brunette looked over the blonde's shoulder at the two bleary figures before her.

"Hey girl." Rei said, smiling, "Long night?" Makoto laughed through her tears.

"Understatement."

"Well, why don't you hand me one of those brownies, disengage Minako, and tell us about it." She said, pulling up a chair, Ami following.

"Oh my god!" Minako said as she pulled away. "How many batches of brownies is that?"

"What ever number 'I'm super stressed out.' equals."? Makoto said, standing, and taking plate out of the cabinet, handing them to Rei. "You all had better start eating. There are cookies in the oven still, I had to turn it off and use it for storage. I need the space."

Silence descended over the table.

"So, how long have you been stress-baking?" Minako asked tentatively.

"A couple of hours." Makoto put her head in her hands, "I burned the first two batches."

"That bad?" Minako answered in disbelief, looking at the others, whose faces mirrored her own horror.

"I know! Since when have I ever burnt cookies? God, I'm a mess right now." They waited for her to continue. "I just can't believe it hasn't gone away. I mean, what has to happen for me to stop? I know what he did and all it takes is seeing him and I can't even pretend I don't love him. Still. Still in love with him. Still comparing every other man to him." She brushed away tears smiling lightly. "I'm a fool, aren't I?"

"No, We understand." Ami started.

"No, I know they didn't do it on purpose, of course I knew that. We knew them, how could we really think they did anything?"

The others looked down uncomfortably.

"So, then, what has been upsetting you? What can we help you with?" Minako asked.

"No, Minako, it's fine, really."

"Oh, come on, Makoto. We're all going through this right now. Talk to us."

"No. I really don't want to right now."

"But we need to know, Makoto. We have a task to complete."

"I said not right now, Venus." The green eyes narrowed, focusing hard on the blond. Ami leaned back, bracing for the familiar storm.

"What?" Minako asked indignantly, "Stop being selfish. I just told you we're all in this together, we need you. One of us can't decide not to help. I need to know what is going on with you. I know this must be hard on you-"

"Why, Venus? Because you think I'm that weak? That I'm that stupid? I am I still that coarse, big emotional brute you had to check up on? I'm sorry that some of us have hearts unlike the hollow vessel of Aphrodite. How dare you talk to anyone about being selfish." Minako drew herself up straight in her chair, eyes cold, venom on her tongue. Then she shook her head, lowering her gaze to the table, biting her lip.

"I am truly sorry, Jupiter, if I ever made you feel that way." She looked up at Makoto, but Makoto was not finished.

"The great commander is sorry! Novel idea. And you wonder why I was always on Earth with Nephrite. Who would want to work under you?"

"That's enough, Jupiter." Rei suddenly said, "You're going too far. You are outranked."

"Says you who would always find reasons to be in temple when anything major came up. And don't pretend you are innocent of challenging your superior."

"And don't pretend you did not egg us on! That you did not allow it to escalate to the level it did. That you did not agree to oversee the challenge that day! And do you know where that got us Jupiter? Do you? It allowed us to shed blood, one another's. And that was sent to the Shitennou. And do you know what that does? Of course you don't, always day-dreaming. It cursed them! It made them distrust each other, made them easy marks for Beryl. You helped sacrificed the man you loved because you couldn't take criticism."

"Mercury." Makoto looked at the, silent senshi, carefully avoiding involvement. "Mercury, it isn't true. She is just lying to hurt me, isn't she?"

"I'm afraid not, Jupiter. They left us messages. When I ran the diagnostics on a piece of the wall, it indicated that it dated from the fall. It is likely from one of Beryl's prisons surrounding the Terrian capital. The messages indicate that the curse was on them, based on the feelings they record. I saved them, see for yourself." Ami pressed her earring twice, and the projection appeared on the wall of the small Tokyo flat.

"Oh God. Oh God, what have we done? He was right; he did love me right up until the end." She paused, and choked out a final thought, " I was his last light...and I helped curse him!" She began to cry again.

"I really am sorry Makoto." Minako said touching the girl's back.

Makoto stopped and put her hand to her mouth, eyes widening. Rei and Ami both blinked a few times, realizing what had happened.

"Oh Minako...I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I don't know what came over me. I know you would never think that." Minako just smiled.

"No, but some part of me deserved it, need to hear it. Don't worry about it. We've all been out of character these last two days. I almost went there to, except I remembered discussing it with Kunzite before I said anything."

"That wasn't meant for you, was it? It was meant for Venus."

"Yes, I think so. You switched names, just like Ami did yesterday. It seems that we were not kind to one another in our past life. The fall of the moon seems a lot less unlikely now. It always made me wonder, the end, how we who had trained only a few short months together had been able to defeat Beryl with only the Princess of the Moon. Why not in our past life, when we had trained since childhood and were lead by the Queen of the Moon?"

"Because we were less cohesive." Ami said, leaning back. "Because we did not rely on one another. Loving one another is more important than I had ever considered. Goddess, since when could I just be so cold to one of you?" She muttered to herself.

"It just seems such a given, doesn't it, that we share this bond?" Makoto asked. The others murmured in ascent.

"This is our warning." Rei said coolly, "This whole experience was not just about us needing our soul mates back in order to bring about crystal Tokyo. This was to teach us what we need to take forward into the future to prevent the past. "

"A realization of what we are each capable of at our worst." Ami seconded.

"But speaking of this whole experience, we have one more artifact to find, and I think Makoto is the clue." Makoto made a face at being referred to as 'the clue'. "Whoa, let me fill you in first. The last two nights, Makoto, we have been trying to find artifacts which, Kunzite told me, the Shitennou left for us during that last week. He said we had to find the sword, the wall, and the ring. We already found the sword. And while I didn't think of it until Ami said it just now, we also found the wall. Did Nephrite say anything to you about finding something?"

"No. He and I just talked about what had happened. And I told him that I knew it was not his intent to hurt me, to," The others flinched. "Well, you all know. But I told him that I did not know if I could trust him again as I did, if I could ever let him get close again. I mean, what if he did it again, if he was weak once, he could be again. But now that I understand about the sword, I don't know what to think."

"Did he answer your concerns?" Ami asked, trying to keep on task.

"Sort of, he was vague. He just said, only your friends can tell you if ours is a timeless love. And if it is, our love can be as strong as we are."

"Well," Minako began, "I guess that's our hint."

"Wait a second, Minako." Ami said, "Makoto is the clue as well. Makoto, what does a ring make you think of?"

"A ring?" Makoto asked nervously, "Well, it's silly, but a ring always makes me think of love, of a promise, a vow, and of marriage."

"Well, the only married people we know are Usagi and Mamoru. Maybe they want us to go see them now. Maybe this is the last step." Minako said hopefully.

"And who know more about a 'timeless love' than our 'friends' the Chibas?" Rei asked happily.

"It's an idea." Ami said slowly, letting the idea wash over her. "It brings both halves of the clues together, what the ring means to Makoto and what Nephrite gave as a clue. Should we go now, Minako?"

"Hm. It is late now, if it wasn't earlier. I think we should all get some sleep and try this in the morning. We still have two days, and we are telling Mamoru what happened tomorrow, so that is two tasks in one. I think we have time to call it a night."

"Are you okay here alone tonight?" Rei asked Makoto, tone conciliatory, "Would you like to sleep over at the temple? I know I'd like the company."

"Yeah." Makoto smiled at her, "I think that'd be a good idea."

"Alright. Let's meet at the temple tomorrow, say ten? It is Saturday morning, and it is Usagi, but I think she'll want to hear this."

"Sounds good," Ami said standing. "I should go. My mom will be home from the night shift soon and if I'm not home, she'll be anxious. Night, ladies."

"I'll walk with you." Minako replied.

"Cool, I'll stay and help Makoto pack an overnight bag." Rei said, grabbing one last bite of brownie.

"See you in the morning. Good Night." Makoto said as she walked them to the door.

*

Minako finished brushing her teeth, and went to grab the bag in her dresser. There was so much she wanted to say, needed to say. So she took the stone and called to him.

"Hello again." His cautious smile and tense stance reminded her of the conditions under which they had parted, forgotten in exhaustion and past lives and epic rivalries. She blushed, all the grand declarations about the past lost in this moment which was here and now and real.

"Hi." She muttered at the floor.

"How did things with Ami go?" He asked, redirecting the unspoken topic.

"Well. We found the wall." She managed to look at him, "And I think we all understand now, understand what happened, and not just the why. I felt like I was dying, when I read that. Like I was losing you for the first time. And maybe it was, since the last time I didn't know until the hour I died, that I had lost you. My heart broke all over again, to know that you were trying to reach me, even at the very end."

"I'm sorry it hurt you. I only wanted you to know what I feared was happening to me. We all did."

"No, don't be sorry. You did not hurt me, it was just...just that I finally got to mourn your loss, without it being shoved aside or denied or invalidated by you being the enemy, by you being a traitor."

"I still am, even if I did not intend to." He said ever so quietly.

"No!" She raged. "No. We are only evil if we choose evil, and we are only traitors if we choose to betray. Did you choose that?"

"No." He answered after a moment.

"Then believe you deserve to come back. I'm going to go see Mamoru tomorrow, you should believe in yourself if you expect him to."

"The prince?" Kunzite said stiffly, "You're telling the prince about us tomorrow?"

"Yes. Why, is there something wrong with that?"

"No." Kunzite said, catching himself, "It's just, when you have waited from something for so long, to hear it is really happening is overwhelming." Minako's face softened.

"I can understand that." She beamed at him. Kunzite's heart caught. "Do you have any idea how much I've wanted you back? How long I spent denying it?"

"Truly?" He asked awed. She smiled again and nodded. "Gods, I don't deserve you."

"Stop it." She said more playfully, "Or I'm going to want to kiss you again, and that did not go well last time." He put his hand to his forehead, and laughed.

"I can't let you, not yet. Believe me, there will come many days when all I'll do is think of ways to keep you in bed. But right now, I can't, not in this form, which is neither man nor ghost. I can't love you like I would like to. Not until this is over."

"I'm holding you to it." Minako said in a low voice, looking hard into his eyes. Kunzite felt that pull he'd felt the first time he'd seen her walk into a party on the Earth in that gold gown. She'd been talking to a dignitary, seemingly oblivious to his intense gaze. It was not until a waiter came by and she took a glass of champagne that she met his eyes and held them; all the things she'd like to do to him clear in her gaze. They she had turned around, laughing at a joke by a Mercurian duke, as if nothing had happened. In that moment, as in this one, he'd been completely captivated by her.

"Minako" He breathed.

"Hey. No pressure. I understand. I won't be selfish." She smiled sadly.

"Where did that come from?" He asked, again unable to keep up with the blonde's emotions.

"Oh," She looked up at him, slightly embarrassed, "We had another little incident tonight when we talked to Makoto. I really must have been a bitch as Venus." He winced at her calling herself such a thing. "How could you have loved me as that? If you loved that...how do you know you love me now? I am not her, I promise that."

"It wasn't that simple, Minako. As I told you, Venus could be cold, that is true. But she could be wonderfully sweet and considerate. I saw her many times agonizing over schedules in a week where Mars had a festival to run for the oracle but Jupiter wished to attend her mother's birthday celebration, just to make sure they could all have the time they needed. This, without ever telling them, even if it meant double or triple shifts for herself. She was not selfish. And in you I see all those things which were beautiful in her."

"If that's the case, then why are the senshi fighting like this?" Minako asked, knotting a hand in her hair.

"You're seeing the parts of one another that you have not forgiven one another for, not the parts that you all know and love about each other. That is not what is new or novel about this experience. What is new is what was forgotten, the dark parts of one another." She didn't answer him. "You'll be stronger if you know where you're weak."

Minako smiled slightly at that. "I hope so. I should try to sleep, tomorrow is a big day."

"Then, I will go, Morning Star. Be strong, only one more clue."

"Kunzite." She said quickly as he started to fade away. "About that, 'Morning Star', what you wrote. Was I really the last thing you thought of at the end?"

"And the first thing too, when I was conscious again, when I entered this stone."

And he was gone. Minako tried in vain not to squeal like Usagi.

She failed.

*

Ami sat in the darkness of her room holding his stone, mulling over all the ways to say what was on her mind. Feeling sure she had it down, she called for him.

Unlike Kunzite, Zoicite materialized into the chair across from her, one leg crossed over the other, arm on the armrest, hand propping up his head.

"What took you so long, pretty thing? I languished on my own for so long. Wasn't it painfully easy? When I realized what they called the shrine they'd built up around that godforsaken hunk of rock, I thought you'd be back by dinner! Ami? Ami? Honey, is everything okay? Why aren't you talking?" Ami smiled.

"Just waiting for you to finish." Zoicite flushed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I do have a habit of that." Ami bit her lip, suppressing a laugh.

"I know. I remember." Zoicite turned his face into his hand.

"God, I always do this with you! You'd think a lifetime would give me some cool around you but I just talk myself into a corner every time." Ami did laugh this time. He smiled at that. "Well, at least I can still make you laugh."

"You always did. It's what made me love you then. I started thinking about all those strange things you'd say before running off muttering 'stupid stupid!' under your breath, and before I knew it, I was thinking about you all the time."

"That was me from the first moment I saw you. I swore I saw a goddess. It was that first time on the moon, and I heard this voice giving a lecture on the mechanics of interspace travel. It was so soft and smooth and light. I followed it, and stood there peering through the keyhole like a schoolboy. And you were enchanting; I was determined to meet you." Ami simply smiled at her hands folded in her lap.

"Was it true what you wrote, Zoicite? That without," She blushed. "Without me..."

"There was nothing beautiful left in the world. Yes. I lost all hope knowing you were gone. Well, or believing you were gone." He stood, crossing the distance to her, and crouching in front of her chair. "You have been what I wanted since the moment I saw you. But since the moment I saw you laugh for the first time, I knew you were what I lived for. I love you." Ami took his face in her hands.

"You know. I had all these well-planned declarations, but none of them are going to measure up to that. So I'll keep it simple. I love you." She kissed him gently, and he swooped in to pick her up, sitting down with her in his lap, arms firmly around her. He looked into her eyes.

"But do you trust me, Ami? Trust in us, that what was broken can be mended?" She took a second.

"I do. If you believed in our love until the end, I can believe in you and our new beginning. I can believe that what we had is not gone. I can see that now. If it wasn't, I would not still love you, a thousand years later."

"Then I am a lucky man." He kissed the top of head, holding her to him.

They stayed that way until morning.

*

At ten, sharp, Minako climbed the stairs to the shrine. Rei was already out, directing the younger shrine maidens in the day's tasks. She smiled over her shoulder at the blond, nodding her head, not pausing in giving her orders. Minako let herself be guided by her nose the shrine's kitchen, where Makoto surely had to be.

"Hello, my friend, my dearest, most wonderful, loving-"

"There are muffins in the oven for you and Ami, so you can stop laying it on so thick."

"Aw, you're the best." She said, grabbing a chair. "Speaking of Ami, she's still not here yet?"

Makoto's green eyes sparkled. "No. Scandalous, isn't it?"

"My, my, my, Miss Ami! Good for her. Zoicite always was good for her. I hope the same is true this time."

"Well, we'll see soon." She said, humming to herself merrily.

"You seem happy today, too." Minako said, curious.

"I guess it's just knowing. It's so liberating to know that I can love him without being at odds with my self, with my duty."

"I know the feeling." Minako said, wistfully, thinking of her own lover.

"You talked to him last night?"

"Yeah, after I promised not to jump him again." Makoto bumped her head on the cupboard door where she had been putting away dished as she swiveled to see the blond.

"YOU DID WHAT? MINAKO!" Minako shushed her frantically. "Sorry, sorry, you tried to_ jump_ him!" She said in a disbelieving whisper.

"Well, not, it wasn't quite like-"

"Oh yes she did." Rei said, gliding in and slipping into another chair at the table. "She flat out tried to seduce him while they were in bed together."

"WHAT?" Makoto nearly screamed, squealing, pulling up a chair, and looking at the blond intently.

"NO! No, no, it was not like that. We just happened to be sitting together and that happened to be on my bed and then, well," Makoto batted her eyelashes at her. Minako started to fume, "You all had your past selves kick in this week and make you say things you regret, why is this different!" The other two just laughed.

"So what exactly did you do? Make a reach for things?" Makoto elbowed the smaller girl.

"No! No. I just, I don't know, I went into autopilot. I just started flirting with him, but it just escalated. But you know what, Makoto? It kind of felt good. To have this big powerful man completely incapacitated by a few words and caresses."

"I know the feeling." Rei said smirking, surprising them both.

"Care to share?" Makoto said leaning back to get a better look at the miko.

"Not really. I'm sure you remember it too, if you think about it."

"Well of course," Makoto smiled too, "But I never had to try with Nephrite. He fell at my feet on a regular basis just finding me in the kitchen."

"Let's face it, Makoto," Minako said, touching her arm seriously, "You have the effect on our princess too. We might need to discuss this with the prince." Makoto swatted her away.

"Oh, shush. Anyways, where is Ami? It is getting late, we've been here for half an hour!" Makoto said brightly.

"I have some ideas." Rei said coolly, "I'll try her on the communicator." She made a move for her communicator. "Ami? Where are you?"

"Just a moment!" came the voice of the Mercurian princess, sounding frazzled. In a minute or so, the owner of the voice came busting into the kitchen. "I'm so sorry, time just, I don't know." The other three looked at one another in awe at the tousled epitome of control.

"Why Ami! I do believe you were late because of a man!" Minako said, hand to her chest, doing her best to look scandalized.

"Minako, I do believe you're right! Look at the blush forming! Rei, what do you say? Was it a man?" Rei simply nodded her assent.

"Oh, come on, we're late because of me as it is. Can we just go to Usagi's already?" She started to walk briskly from the interrogation scene.

"Of course!" Minako said, taking her muffin from Makoto who rushed after Ami with the other, "After you."

*

Fifteen minutes of teasing later, they were inside the Chiba's apartment, laughing to themselves as Mamoru woke the still hibernating Usagi. They heard the low murmur of Mamoru's voice and the muffled whining of their princess before they suddenly heard,

"REALLY! Oh my god!"

Usagi came busting into the room in bunny print pink nightgown, with Mamoru following, holding out a robe. She took it from him quickly, tied it on, and sat down on in one of the armchairs next to the couch, practically bouncing.

"Goooood morning! How are you all? Had a good week?" She chirped happily. Mamoru sat on the armrest of the chair, draping an arm around his wife.

"Good morning, ladies." He called, eyes warm, but curious. "Something must be going on that I am not aware of, or Usagi would not be so excited to see you when she's seen you twice this week already." They shifted uncomfortably, remembering that Mamoru had not been aware of their little mission.

"Well..." Minako started slowly, holding Usagi's gaze, whose eyes widened, and she turned to her husband, smiling brilliantly.

"Oh, Mamo-chan, you might want to get just the teensy bit angry for me for just a bit so please hear us out before you do. Okay?" Mamoru sighed heavily before nodding. The girls winced, knowing that face, the one that was prepared for 'I bought an ice cream maker and I went to go use it and well it looked so easy and _well_, you might not want to look at the ceiling of the kitchen', or another such story, as they had been witness to.

"What is it, Usako?" He said in that long-suffering voice.

"Well, you see. You know how I had been worried about Crystal Tokyo coming?"

"Usako, I thought we had talked about that and promised not to worry anymore, that it would come in due time?" Usagi bit her lip looking down.

"I know...but I had this idea for why it might not be coming. See, you and I are so happy! And Crystal Tokyo must be built on love and happiness, but the girls--" She gestured to the highly uncomfortable senshi, "They are not as happy as us. So I thought, maybe all of us have to be that happy and in love to have the power to build Crystal Tokyo." She smiled at him widely, willing him to see her logic. Mamoru sighed,

"Go on, Usako."

"Yes, well, so I knew they could not just have the power they needed from just any love, it would need to be a true love, like soul mate love." Mamoru stiffened, mouth opening slightly, eyeing his wife like she was a loose tiger.

"Usako...did you..." He started before she barreled into the story.

"So I thought I'd give them the chance to see if the ones we all thought were their soul mates. So I just borrowed your stones and-"

"Usagi! You didn't!" Mamoru said angrily, standing. "Do you know how dangerous that was? They're still bound to serve Beryl in those stones! Why do you think I leave them in that box?" Usagi stood too, her temper flaring.

"The men who helped tried to save you when we fought under Beryl, who tried to again during the dead moon circus, who have constantly tried to advise you if you'd listen? Mamoru. These are good men, who made a terrible mistake, who were taken advantage of by evil, just as you were. They deserved a second chance; everyone does! Why don't you trust them?" Mamoru looked at her hotly.

"Because, Usagi, even if they did make a mistake, if they were able to fall then, they are too much of a liability to reincarnate now. Especially with Crystal Tokyo coming. Remember, they are bound through their crystals to serve Beryl forever. They fell to evil last time without having a mark on their souls, binding them to serve evil. How do you think they'd do this lifetime? I can't take the chance of something going wrong and having people that close to us put you or my daughter in danger, even though I feel for them."

"But Mamoru!" Usagi cried, "These men were you friends! Brothers even! I know you don't trust them still. I know you almost never consult them, and that when they try to help you, you don't listen. I know you've never even talked to me about trying to bring them back and break their bonds to their crystals so they can serve us freely. But how could you really think that about them? Haven't you ever brought it up with them, what you're afraid of?"

"Of course I have, and they say they'll honor my wishes. And it is my wish that they remain where both they and you are safest. Listen, Usako!" He said, voice suddenly low and anguished, cutting off another furious blast from Usagi, "You died because of them, because they knew how to get Beryl past the defenses and into the moon. Even if I can forgive that, how can forget that, or protect against it?" Usagi's shoulders dropped, and she crossed he distance to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Oh Mamo-chan. Artemis and Luna told me the senshi were looking for something which might tell us something about that, a sword?" She looked hopefully to the senshi.

"Yes, well..." Minako fumbled, standing to open her space pocket and withdrew the sword. She handed it to Mamoru to examine. He stared at it for a few seconds.

"I remember this." He said slowly. He looked at Minako, then Rei. "You sent this to Kunzite. I remember him getting it. He said it was because he was helping Venus with the ball. He left it on the table and Jadeite took it, as he did anything Rei touched." He almost smiled. "Why is this here?"

Minako and Rei went through the story of the curse again, shamefaced. Ami chimed in when they discussed looking for the next clue, the wall, projecting up the image, and explaining her theory about what the chronological nature of the messages meant about their devolving mental state, indicating torture and brainwashing, as well as the effects of the curse. That none of them could have held up against that kind of pressure. Mamoru took a seat, head in his hands.

"I think I understand. So, this sword, it left a curse on Kunzite and Jadeite, which made the group vulnerable. And then on the wall of a shrine, you saw evidence of the effects of the sword and of brainwashing on their minds" He looked up at the senshi. Minako nodded sadly. "Alright. So, my men have been sending you to look for the clues to how they were overtaken by darkness. This sword, a wall where they were once held prisoner, and then after a ring. What about this ring? What did it show you?"

"We haven't found it yet." Makoto answered, "We understood that the message was to bring us to you, the ring being marriage, and the clue being 'friends' and 'timeless love'."

"But these have all been physical objects from that time. I don't have anything like that. And neither does Usako, that I know of, since she is full of surprises today." He said, looking over his wife.

Usagi puffed up. "I am not and I do not! It was for the best." Mamoru smiled to himself at her anger.

"Then I guess we're not done." Makoto said unhappily. "But where else would it be...and what else if not wedding bands?"

"I wonder." Ami said, expression intense, "If we just went to wrong route with the clue. If it was not friend who had a 'timeless love' but someone who knows about friend who knew about 'timeless' who could tell us whether our loves are timeless."

"You don't think..." Rei asked. Ami nodded,

"Setsuna."

* * *

Getting closer to the end now. Thank you to VO1 for beta reading this, and to everyone who reviewed. The support is much appreciated.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own Sailor Moon or the legends this story borrows from. It is just that, borrowing.

* * *

"Can't we just ask the Setsuna in this time? Do we really need to go to the gates of time?" Minako said, exasperated. "And I thought this time I'd finally get a full night's sleep."

"But you're a senshi." Rei said, laughing to herself, "Whatever gave you the idea you deserved sleep?" Minako nodded ruefully.

"I don't think it could be the Setsuna in this time. She is bound not to reveal any of the secrets she learned at the gate. And, she is less likely to have any artifact than Sailor Pluto. But we can't just go there." Ami interjected, "You can't just go to the gates of time. We have to have a key."

"Or I just have to ask Setsuna in this time to let you see go to the gate so you can see her senshi form, the guardian of the gate." Usagi said warmly, reaching for her phone. "Setsuna! HI! How are you? Yes, that's wonderful. And Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru? Good! I have a favor to ask. So, I know you're probably already aware this was coming, but the inners need to go the gates of time to see your senshi self. Yes, it is very important to me that they go, so please, help them. Oh Setsuna, thank you. Yes, I will tell them. Thank you. Bye!" The girls all looked at her significantly.

"Well?" Mamoru provided for the anxious senshi.

"Oh. It is wonderful to be able to talk on the phone to a friend for once. Makes you feel a little less abnormal." She smiled up at him.

"That's nice, dear, but I think the girls want to know about seeing Pluto." Usagi blushed horribly and then started to laugh.

"Yes, yes, of course, I was just getting there. Just, well, she says she can meet with you at their house in a hour, if you'd like."

"Thank the gods!" Makoto said, raising her hands in praise.

"Yes!" Usagi said brightly, "Because it means I get to ask you about how this week had been going!" Mamoru kissed the top of her head and left the room. Usagi frowned, but let it go for now.

"It's been eventful for some of us." Makoto said, the only one without a scandal to their name this week, making waggly eyebrows at Usagi, who laughed and leaned forward eagerly.

"Ohhhhh, who?"

"All of the others!" She paused as Usagi squealed. "Yes, Rei had a little moment with Jadeite," She made kissy noises. More squeals. "and Ami stayed up all night with Zoicite last night, and MINAKO…"

"That's quite enough!" Minako said loudly, standing as Usagi rolled with laughter. "Can we talk about the important stuff right now, since we only have an hour?" The other two targeted senshi nodded, and Usagi and Makoto found themselves outnumbered.

"Okay, okay." Usagi said, catching her breath, "What is so important that you have to tell me right now?"

"We've been having personality slips all this week." Minako said slowly, struggling to find words for what had been happening.

"What exactly does that mean?" Usagi said, suddenly serious.

"We've been suddenly becoming ourselves from our past lives this week. We'll just be having a conversation and then bam, we're our old selves, and we start having these arguments with the past lives versions of one another." Usagi looked startled.

"This only started this week?" She asked anxiously. They nodded.

"It always happens when were discussing the Shitennou." Rei followed. "That is what triggered the first argument between Minako and I, or, well, Venus and Mars."

"What sorts of arguments?" Usagi asked.

"Hold overs from the Silver Millennium. Mostly about how we treated one another then, which was not kindly." Makoto replied. "It seems we were not a cohesive group. We were trained apart, and worked separately, and worst of all, we barely knew you then, barely interacted with the woman we gave our lives to."

"But I don't think these memories are a bad thing, Usagi." Minako said to the very concerned looking princess. "I think these are happening now because that last week brought out the worst in each of us, and we had suppressed those memories along with those of the Shitennou. As we remember them, we remember all those problems within ourselves that accelerated the end. I think it is to help us know what to watch out for in ourselves and in one another, so it never happens again." Usagi blinked.

"Is this what you all think?"

"I do." Rei said definitively, thinking of Jadeite, "I think that was knowledge we needed to be strong enough to face going back into a regimented palace life. That if we lose touch with why we love and serve you, or why we love one another, we can do terrible things. And that we will pay dearly for it." Her eyes were soft and sad. Usagi thought for a moment.

"If that true, this was important for you all. Maybe I was wrong, then, about what you needed for Crystal Tokyo to come about. Maybe it wasn't the Shitennou, maybe it was this knowledge, and the Shitennou were just the tool to get you all to see this." She smiled at them. "Or maybe it was both. I still expect you to go finish this!" They laughed a little.

"But, Usagi" Minako began, "This all has to be done by before the New Year. That's by midnight tomorrow! And all of us have to have completed our tasks. And one of mine was to get Mamoru's forgiveness for them, and his permission for them to serve him again. And I don't think I've accomplished that." Usagi looked over her shoulder, eyes wary, not quite able to hear his thoughts, but almost, as the air reverberating with his anquish.

"You don't worry about that. I'll talk to him; he knows the right choice." She smiled back at her girls, tone lightening with her expression, "No worries! You just focus on your task. I'm so proud of each of you, and I expect to hear all the juicy details that Minako wanted me to ignore!" She stood to walk them to the door.

They said good-bye and got hugs. Makoto, the last one out the door, held Usagi a moment longer and whispered in her ear, "Minako tried to jump Kunzite's bones!"

Usagi squealed, "Minako!!! Way to take charge! I wish I could do that more ofe...well, good luck!"

Usagi closed the door on Minako's angry voice, growing more distant, "You just HAD to tell her."

She laughed to herself, and went to find Mamoru.

*

The girls always approached the outer senshi's home with a bit of trepidation. Like the women themselves, the place was formidable with its high fence and European styling. It also did not help that they knew the women inside were still their own circle, one where the inners were welcome, but always watched, by the older, harder women.

And sometimes it made them all damn nervous to go in asking for any favors.

"You ring it." Rei said, pushing Minako forward in an uncharacteristic show of nerves.

"Why me!?!" Minako asked shrinking back.

"Because, as you love to say, you're leader. Now stop shaking and be one!" Rei said sternly. Minako shot her a look, but stepped up, and rang the doorbell, which played a haunting slow sequence of notes.

"God, does it have to be so intimidating, seriously." Makoto said, looking like someone had thrown cold water on her.

"Because we know how Haruka is going to act when she hears about this." The girls all muttered prayers to their various deities under their breath. It was on this scene that Hotaru opened the door, smiling sweetly.

"There you are! I was so excited when Setsuna-mama told me you were all coming over." She moved to let them all in, laughing slightly as the girls glanced around nervously as they entered. "Come on into the den. She's finishing up some papers in the office." They nodded, taking seats in the green and black den. They shuffled as Hotaru when to go get tea.

She put the tray down on the table.

"I don't have Mako's talent, but I made some cookies." She made them all tea without asking, and passed out the cups, giving the anxious girls something to fiddle with.

"Hotaru," Minako began slowly, "Are Michiru and Haruka in?"

"Oh no. They have a concert tonight, and left for the rehearsal at three."

"What time is it?" Makoto asked suddenly.

"Ten to four." Hotaru said, glancing at her watch.

"Ah." Rei said smiling. "No wonder Setsuna asked us to wait an hour before coming back over."

"Because I have a heart." Setsuna said, coming in, gesturing for them not to stand. "Hello, ladies. It has been a hard week for you, I didn't think it was fair to subject you to that."

"You're amazing, Setsuna." Minako said honestly. The older woman just smiled.

"Well, I won't keep you for too long. Usagi tells me you want to go to the gate to see my senshi self."

"Yes." Minako answered.

"Alright. And this has to do with the Shitennou, correct? Do you know what you want to happen, senshi?" Minako blinked, unable to answer.

"Excuse me?" Makoto volunteered.

"Do you know what you want to come of all this, of finding what you seek? Of what you want to happen?" Setsuna said patiently. The girls sat silently, finally, to all of their great surprise, Ami said,

"I want him back. I want to see him everyday. And I want to be a better senshi, and a better friend." Everyone looked at her, gaping slightly. She blushed under the attention but did not back down.

"I...I second Ami." Makoto said, the first one to get her breath back. Minako and Rei just nodded.

"Alright then. If you're very sure-" She paused, looking for confirmation, which she got in a chorus of yeses, "then I can send you to the time gate. If you are due further explanations, or owe further ones, she will have or request that information. Rise, senshi, and face your challenge." Her voice taking on that molten metal quality her senshi self used, at once rich and warm, and deadly.

They rose, and the Setsuna produced the Garnet Rod, opening a portal in their quiet, polished den. On reflex, the girls transformed.

"Go ladies. She will open a return portal wherever you wish. I suggest not here, as Haruka will be home. And good luck. May fate and fortune be on your side. I know what it means to be alone." She smiled at Hotaru, who smiled up at her, suddenly again much older than her physical age. The inners nodded sadly at the woman who had waited so long for this chance to live a real life. They bowed in gratitude and walked through the door.

The girls jumped when a moment later, when the same molten voice sounded in the fog.

"Who violates the sanctity of this realm? No mortals may go here."

"Pluto!" Minako called frantically, remembering how close Sailor Moon had come to physical harm for catching the senshi unaware.

"Venus?" The figure called stepping out of the fog, lowering her staff, but very slowly. "Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter. My, to what do I owe the honor?"

"You don't...know?" Makoto asked, surprised. Pluto smiled wryly.

"I have to check which you, as in from what time, is here and asking for what. I can't let you know anything before your time, so I have to make sure I know which visit brought you to me."

"Ah." Makoto said briefly, trying to not ask how many other times that would visit her still. And more importantly, why. "I came because we are looking for an artifact, and some advice, from someone who knows something about 'timeless' loves."

"I see." Pluto said, nodding. "Anything else?"

"And we want permission for the Shitennou to come back." She said boldly.

"Ah. This. Very well. Then I have some questions for you. Are you ready?"

"Yes." Minako answered for her team.

"The final decision is Endymion's, not yours, as to whether they are allowed to return, since he is their master. However, the ones who will bear the greatest effects of this decision are you. So you too must agree to their return, understanding all the implications." Rei looked anxious. "Yes, Mars?"

"Oh." Rei looked uncomfortable under the penetrating gaze, "I just, I was wondering how it is that we are the ones who would bear the greatest effects when it is Endymion's safety, his very life, that he gambles when he trusts these men." She replied, thinking anxiously of the expression on Mamoru's face when Usagi had told him, and of the subsequent discussion.

"A valid point." Pluto said, inclining her head in deference to the girl. "But you need to understand, for Endymion, the point it moot. He risks safety from the inside if he takes them back, and from the outside if he does not. The King needs their protection as much as the Queen needs you. It is you who have something real and tangible to gain or lose. That's why you have to be here. You are responsible for what they do, they who were brought back at your request. So, are you ready to accept the responsibility of this decision? Because it is on you, whatever happens."

"Are we ready?" Venus said, turning to the others, who instantly formed a small circle.

"We are. Whatever happens, I know you'll be there for me, and me for each of you. If anything goes wrong, we can fix it, because we're stronger. We know what our faults are, and we'll never let that make us weak again, because we've learned. We can handle this." Jupiter answered brightly, excitement written in her eyes. She could almost see doing something as simple as taking him to a movie, watching the envious eyes. And knowing that to him, no one would ever come close to her. For the girl who had been alone so long, and told she was less, that kind of love was all she'd ever wanted.

"So, we could, if we needed to. Do we want to?"

"God, yes." Jupiter said intensely.

"Of course." Mercury said, "I'd be a fool to have gone through all this and not want to." But honestly, she wanted someone who felt more than an admiration for her. To be more than an icon, and untouchable fragile creature. She wanted him.

They all turned to look at the very quiet Mars.

"Mars, do you have an answer?" Violet eyes looked up at Venus, like a scared child, innocently unable to hide their emotions. She felt the familiar tension between her mind and her heart. Something clicked. The score had been settled; one of the two had won.

"I would say no, except that he remembered the color of my eyes when he had forgotten his own name." She put her face in her hands "Yes." Jupiter put an arm around her, holding her gently.

"We are ready to present our decision." Venus asked. The group nodded, and she turned to face the guardian of time.

"And what have you decided?"

"We ask for them to be sent back. We have found the truth about them, we have forgiven them, we realized we still loved them, and always will, and we have found how to be strong enough to bear whatever challenges this decision bring to us, through this experience and through one another. We believe they deserve a second chance and that we are ready to support them in that effort. So we ask for them back." Pluto smiled.

"Then these, ladies, are yours."

She reached for her chain of keys, and removed something. She handed the smaller key ring to Minako. It had four rings on it.

"One for each of you. I will see back in the present. Goodbye ladies, and may you be happy in your choice. Where to?"

"I don't know, um, the shrine?" She looked back to Mars for confirmation, feeling incredibly ungraceful next to Pluto. Mars shrugged.

"Very well." She cut the portal back into their own time. "Farewell." And they exited into the deserted courtyard of the shrine.

"Whoa, what time is it?" Minako asked, looking around.

"Late enough for us not to be in the middle of a crowd, for which I count myself lucky." Rei said, detransforming. The others followed suit. "Hey Makoto?"

"Yeah?"

"It's been a long day...but I'm starving. And I bet we all are. Will you help me cook enough for all of us?"

"Rei." The taller girl smiled, rolling up her sleeves, "I thought you'd never ask."

*

"Mamoru?" A gentle, sweet voice filled the dark room.

"Yes, Usagi." The man called back.

"You are still awake. I was afraid of that. Are you still mad at me?"

"Usako, for the millionth time, no, I'm not mad." His voice warm, kissing her on the forehead as she snuggled closer.

"Then have you not decided what to do about the Shitennou yet?" Mamoru sighed.

"Maybe it makes me a bad person, Usako, but I am slow to trust and slow to forgive. And for so long I believe they, who had been closest to me, who had been raised with me, who I had loved, that they had betrayed me. It is hard to just shed that and accept what the senshi have shown me." Usagi stroked his forearm where it encircled her waist, offering comfort.

"I know very well how difficult you can be when you think you know how a person is." She said, voice playful, "How long did we hate each other over that?"

"Oh and you were any better!" He said laughing.

"That's true, but usually I give more people a chance more often than you do, Mamoru." Usagi said seriously.

"I know you do, and I love you for it, for showing me how to believe in people and inspire them to live up to what you see in them." He whispered against her hair.

"Then follow my lead here, Mamoru. If Galaxia can become a friend again, and our daughter be returned to herself, and you the same, then trust that your dearest friends can be brought back to you."

"But I couldn't take it happening again, Usako, I just couldn't." His voice, always so cool, was laced with real pain.

"I know, you've been alone so long, and have hurt so much." She held him tighter. "But you have to still give people the chance. You can't stop believing in love and forgiveness just because you were hurt. I wouldn't be with you if you hadn't taken the chance and let me in." This time, Mamoru held her more tightly; the idea of a life without her was his idea of a life not worth living. He thought for some time.

"You're right. Yes, I'll bring them back. You're behind me in this too? You support this decision?" She laughed.

"Obviously yes." He smiled, even though she couldn't see it.

"Alright, I'll tell Pluto in the morning."

"Sounds like an excellent idea." Usagi whispered, feeling sleepy now that her big duty for the night was done.

"Usako, you're everything to me, do you know that?" He asked the tiny woman in the crook of his arm.

"Good." She said drowsily, "You're the one thing I'm going to be selfish about."

*

Rei couldn't help herself. The moment the others were gone, she had reached under her desk to retrieve the stone from her box of keepsakes, not that she would let anyone know she was sentimental. Moving aside the program from one of her early concerts, and a photo of her mother, which had gotten shifted in a hasty shove under the desk as Ami came in the day before last, she finally picked up the bag. She grasped the stone, calling him softly.

"Look who came back. I was wondering if you'd ever call me again." She locked eyes with the golden figure leaning lazily on her dresser.

"I always seem to, don't I? Even when I wonder if I should." She dropped her eyes and sighed, running a hand through her hair. It threw Jadeite slightly off balance; he had expected a harsher come back.

"Rei?" He called softly.

"A lot has happened since I saw you last." She began with a deep, silent breath. "We found the wall, and talked to Mamoru and Usagi, and to Pluto." He looked at her steadily, knowing this could go one of two ways: yelling or crying.

"You have been busy, then. I should not have mocked that." He thought he saw a glimmer of a victorious smile, but it was too brief to be sure.

"I don't know what's going to happen now, since the decision is ultimately your prince's. But understand this," She paused briefly, turning from him, so he could just make out her profile as she stared off into the distance. "I took a great gamble on what you meant. So I deserve to know this much, did you mean it?" She asked in a fierce whisper.

"Did I mean what, Rei?" He hoped that he sounded less bewildered than he felt. She tipped her head down.

"When you said you could remember my eyes when you had forgotten your own name?" Her voice was like smoke in the air, easily missed unless you were paying close attention.

"Rei..." He gently took her head in his hands, turning her toward him, agonized to see the lines of tears down her perfect face. He didn't know if he'd ever found a perfect metaphor for her, perhaps because, like the fire, she was unpredictable. But in a moment like this, he was reminded of his favorite. She was like clay in the kiln. The end result, once it had borne the heat, was impossibly harder and stronger than what had gone in. So she could become, from any event, so much more than just a warrior, or a woman. She could become a goddess. But in that process of becoming so hard, she was often infinitesimally fragile, more so than almost anyone noticed. Like now, she could just shatter instead of drawing herself up and fighting.

"Please...did you mean it?"

"My love, I meant it." She shuddered slightly, "I know you. Like the fire you worship; you can be kind or cruel. Either way, I will always need you. My heart is loyal to you no matter which form you take. And as every part of my identity was stripped from me, it hardly surprises me that that love was the last thing that remained. I love you, always have, and always will."

He went to hold her slowly, slowly. Watch how the flame reacts. He smiled as she pulled him to her, burying herself in his chest, needing to hold onto something solid as the world become too much. Finally, when the world stopped spinning, she looked up at him with eyes so bright and loving that he could not breath.

And the look on her face, Jadeite shook his head slightly, stroking back her hair. Maybe he had gotten it wrong, all the fire metaphors. In this moment, with her soul bared, she was simply like the lilies she loved so much, intense and beautiful and fragile.

He kissed her very gently. She even smelled like lilies.

"Stay with me." She said simply, leading him over to her futon, and pulling him in after her. "If Ami can do this, no one has any right to mock me." He laughed, cradling her form gently.

"Way to go Zoi."

"Hm?" She muttered.

"Nothing." He expected to get called on it but she was silent. Instead, she simply said,

"I want you know, if tomorrow is goodbye, I'll still be here waiting for you, in another hundred years."

"Rei..." He breathed, struggling to find words.

"Shh. Just stay with me, while you can."

*

Makoto threw down her bag, kicking off her shoes, and barely pushed her feet into slipper before sprinting across the room and to her living room table, where the bag sat.

"Nephrite." She called, holding the red stone. He materialized in front of her, smiling at her adoringly. She rushed into speech, needing to say so many things. "Nephrite...We found the artifacts, the sword and the wall and the rings, and I understand everything now. I'm so sorry for all that you had to go through, and why. If I had understood before, I would never have been so distant. I'm sorry. I love you, I really do." She said glowing. Nephrite had never known words to make him so happy.

"Baby, come here." He said holding out his arms to her, laughing as she bounded to him, arms and legs tangling about his body, holding him tightly. He pulled her down on the couch with him, pulling her back slightly so he could look at her face. He gently caressed her cheek, continuing the motion down her neck, playing with loose tendrils of hair at the nape of her neck, laughing as she shrugged her shoulders up in shy surprise at the shock waves the simple actions sent through her.

"God, to be able to just sit and do this with you again," He smiled, "It's all I could have hoped for, in my worst moments." She bent her head to his neck, nuzzling there.

"I just want it to last this time. I only feel like I'm home when you're there." He ran a hand up and down her back.

"I know the feeling. Did you ladies talk to the prince and princess?" He felt her nod.

"Just today, or well, what time is it now?" He looked for the clock for her.

"A quarter after two."

"Yesterday, then. I'm not sure what Mamoru is going to do, he went off to be alone while we talked to Usagi."

"Ah, yeah, you can never tell when he wants to be alone. It can go one of two ways. But no matter what, he will have made a decision by the time he returns."

"I doubt he had much of a chance for alone time living with Usagi."

"He and the princess...are married?" He asked, trying to be delicate. She laughed at him, stroking his hair.

"Yes, Mr. Chivalry, they're married." A shadow crossed his face.

"He didn't tell us. I always thought I'd be there." She blanched, realizing in horror that she a laughed at this.

"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't realize. I would not have laughed at that. Gods, if we hadn't been so careless, hadn't sent the sword..."

"Now then," He kissed the worried expression off her face, pulling her back to him. "It would have been some other poor soul in my place. Evil will always find a carrier. Besides, none of us were fully prepared for the roles that were thrust upon us. You four were raised as princesses, with your every whim catered to. You were all raised for a time of eternal peace, and by the time we realized that was not the time in which we lived, it was too late. And it's not like Shitennou were not raised to love someone. We were not prepared to watch someone, be responsible for them, other than the prince. Maybe if we had, we would have been watching you all more carefully for signs of the darkness affecting your judgment instead of just burying ourselves in our work and writing it off as an angry lover."

"Maybe that's why the girls and I are all so normal in this life, not born to wealth or a throne."

"Very possibly."

"I just hope Mamoru can see all those problems don't exist in this life."

"Oh, he'll know. Strategy was never one of his weaknesses." He sighed, "Forgiveness of weakness was."

"You don't think..." She pulled back to look at him.

"I don't know, angel. I just don't know. But it'll be morning soon darling, you need to get some sleep."

"How can I sleep when this may be the last day I get to see you for a century?" He thought for a moment. He frowned before nervously suggesting,

"I could stay with you tonight, _just_ to sleep!" Makoto gave him a sly, seductive little smile.

"I _am_ capable of that." She kissed his neck, laughing as he jerked away, "But may I ask why this panic? You never seemed to need any convincing before."

"I just can't, Makoto, not in this form. Please, don't tempt me."

"So, I shouldn't breathe all night, right?" He looked at her angrily, and then laughed at her playful smile.

"Exactly."

"Come on, already." She took his hand and led him to her bedroom. He frowned. "What?"

"Everything smells like you. This is so not good." She made a horrified face, ready to beat the hell out of him, before she realized what his tortured expression meant. She blushed instead.

"Stop that. Come on. Just lay down." He complied warily, as she opened a drawer, and grabbed something, dipping into another room, closing the door. He waited patiently for the door to open again. He was unprepared for her standing there in a gown that covered less than her sailor uniform, complete with bared shoulder.

"Are you trying to kill me?" He asked, averting his eyes.

"Oh come on, it's just a nightgown. I put on the one that covered the most. It goes halfway to my knees and there is no cleavage." No response. She turned off the light, moonlight still filling the room. She got into bed next to him, still finding it strange to have someone else in bed with her. She moved closer to him.

"Can't you at least hold me? Is it that bad?" She asked, feeling strangely insecure even though he professed that he was avoiding her because she was so attractive to him.

"Yes!" He hissed. But he felt the figure next to him still, and braced himself, pulling her into his arms. "But I'll deal with it."

*

The blue morning light as well as the cold woke Minako. She reached out next to her, her eyes sharpening the vague shapes. He was gone. She sat up quickly, pushing off the blankets. She glanced into the bathroom.

Nothing. And into the kitchen, living room, still there was nothing. Her blood started to run cold. In a last ditch effort, she checked the balcony. It was only then that she admitted the truth. He was gone.

Refusing to panic until all of her options were exhausted, she ran back to her room, and picked up her black bag off of her dresser top. Then, she panicked, hot tears pricking her eyes. It was gone.

Pushing the fear back, she went into senshi mode, and looked for her communicator. She went to her nightstand. There she found it, the script neat and wide:

_'You are not done yet.'_

_

* * *

_Only one more chapter left now folks. Thank you for all the support and for the criticism. It is always welcome. And for the most substantive criticism I get, from my beta reader VO1, I am beyond grateful. You should go read her stories; they're wonderful.

-goldnheart


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Sailor Moon or the legends this story borrows from. It is just that, borrowing.

* * *

Rei jolted awake to the sound of her communicator going off before the usual sound of her alarm or, well, her grandfather. She reached beside her bed, where she always placed it before going to sleep, and pushed the button.

"Rei!" came Minako's frantic voice.

"What? Minako, What's wrong?" She answered sharply, both afraid and concerned.

"He's gone!" Rei looked down, suddenly not needing to ask whom. She felt Minako's panic herself.

"Jadeite too." She gripped her blanket.

"His stone is gone too! I just woke up because I felt something was off...and they were both gone." Rei jumped out of bed, crouching beside the open box, and grasping her bag. Empty.

"So is Jadeite's. I just checked. Come over. Call the other two."

"I will. Someone left a note Rei. It said, 'You are not done yet'. It incinerated in my hand." Rei shivered.

"Get the others."

*

Rei knelt at the table, absolutely still and quiet. Ami frowned, unsure whether she should just sit or if she should announce her presence to her absent friend. Rei looked up slowly, and Ami stiffened, locked for a moment in those cold eyes. She couldn't help but wonder for a moment, who was it that controlled ice? Then they softened, and Rei smiled at her warmly. Ami relaxed.

"Sorry. I was somewhere else. Come, sit." Ami obliged, sitting down across from her, but was still looking at her a little warily. "Don't look at me like that. You don't look so good yourself. You're so jumpy."

"It's just one thing after another right now. I can't help it." Rei patted her shoulder.

"I know, I was just teasing you." Ami smiled wanly.

"I know. I just, well, I let myself get hopeful last night. Hopeful that I would never have to spend another day without him. And..." She trailed off.

"And now, this."

"Exactly." Makoto came walking in with Minako in tow.

"Hi." Makoto said tersely. The expression on her face daring anyone to speak above a soothing whisper, which was exactly the tone a tired looking Minako used, taking the seat next to Ami, opposite Makoto.

"I won't waste any time. We don't have it. As I told you all, I was left a note this morning that said 'You are not done yet.' The script was vaguely familiar, but not definitively anyone I knew. Then it destroyed itself. What do we think?" She sat down, back perfectly straight. She needed the structure of a mission, craved it, and the detachment it allowed. The other senshi sat silent for a moment, jarred by the calm tone and businesslike manner. "Come on ladies, we need to move, we only have until midnight. How long is that?" Makoto looked at her watch.

"17 hours." Minako nodded sharply.

"We need to do something more, what else? What have we not done?"

"Well, let's think about the facts. What happened with the artifacts before?" Ami framed the situation, taking out her computer.

"We had to work together to find them, and figure out the clue to retrieve them." Makoto replied. Ami typed.

"But we always had to do more than that." Rei said, pursing her lips slightly in thought, "Like Minako and I having to lift the curse, or each of us having to make an offering."

"That's true." Minako answered, nodding. "There was always a second step."

"And the items glowed, both times we got it right. Mine hasn't, has yours?" Rei said, mostly to Minako. She shook her head. Rei looked to the others, both frowned and shook their heads.

"Let's take them out. Ami, can you scan them?" Minako asked, berating herself for not having asked her to do so when they first got the rings.

"Sure." Ami replied, removing her own plain gold ring and putting it on the table, where three more of the same joined hers. She executed a scan. "Nothing I can trace besides faint energy signatures, but anything that has been through as much as these rings have...it would be bound to have some signature. Nothing remarkable."

"Alright. Any other ideas?" The blond answered, feeling older every moment, like time was suddenly speeding up. Or an extra lifetime was finally catching up with her.

"I keep feeling like it is not a coincidence that the clue was ambiguous. That we felt like the clue was so likely to be with Usagi and Mamoru. Maybe we're supposed to go to them." Rei proposed, hands folded in front of her face, casting shadows on her face. Ami's fingers stilled.

"What if..." Her eyes sparkled, loving the puzzle, "What it we did the right things, but in the wrong order?"

"Come again?" Minako asked.

"What if we were right both times, that we were supposed to go to see Mamoru and Usagi and were supposed to go see Setsuna, but we just went to them in the wrong order?" Ami clarified. Minako felt a spark of hope.

"You know...when I told Kunzite we were going to go see the prince, the night before we went, he looked at me strangely. He covered it up quickly, but he definitely reacted to it. What if it was because he knew we were doing it wrong?" She interjected.

"Then do we just go see Mamoru and Usagi?" Makoto asked, "Or is there something more concrete we have to do?"

"I don't know." Ami typed a few more details into the computer, "All the other times, there was some specific action that had to happen."

"Would our promise before Pluto count?" Makoto followed.

"I don't know." Ami repeated, never one to give an answer she didn't have.

"I feel like there is something more." Rei answered firmly. "Usagi and Mamoru must be the key. Then we would have friends, not just _a_ friend, timeless, and love."

"We need to go, then." Minako said standing, pocketing her ring, the other mimicking the action. "And we should probably bring doughnuts as a peace-offering, or Usagi will kill us for being there so early."

*

Makoto found herself first in the firing line, as the others voted to put the girl with the food in front of the door. She rang and flinched.

No answer. Rei elbowed her, and she pushed it again. Still nothing. She pushed it again, twice in quick succession.

An unearthly wail went up from inside the apartment. The girls stepped back. A few moments later, the unearthly sound reached the door, and a furious Lunarian princess stood in front of them, prepared to blast them back to the past.

"What are you doing here!? Do you know what time it is!?!" They shrank back from the tiny girl's enormous wrath. Makoto pushed the box of doughnuts at her.

"Two dozen!" Makoto's voice squeaked. Usagi's expression softened momentarily, then she looked up, glaring again.

"Sprinkles?" Makoto nodded. Usagi turned on her heel. "Fine. This had better be important. I thought you were Mamoru and that he'd lost his key. Oh, I was going to get him back for all the times he scolded me for losing mine. Every now and then, it starts to bother you when someone is that perfect. But then he is so sweet-"

"Where is he?" Rei interrupted, feeling strange.

"He should be out for his morning run, as usual." She said through a mouth of doughnut. Rei's nose wrinkled. She sat down and took a very dainty bite of a croissant.

"Usagi," Makoto's voice was strained, "Then why are his running shoes still by the door?"

Usagi sat up and glanced over at the foyer. And sure enough, there were a pair of large dirty running shoes.

"Oh. Huh...I don't know. He always goes for a long morning run on Sundays when he doesn't have to work." She went to get her phone. "Maybe he got called into the hospital for something."

She put her phone to her ear, and another phone rang in the apartment. Usagi's eyes got big. She walked over to the phone, and picked it up, along with his car keys.

"I don't understand. The house would have been unlocked if he had left without his keys. But it was locked; I had to unlock it. And he also could not have gone to hospital because his car is here." Her voice started to rise.

"The Shitennou were gone this morning when we woke up. Their stones were gone too." Minako answered, not wanting to increase the panic, but needing to give her leader the details. To her surprise, Usagi calmed visibly. "Usagi?"

"Hm?" Usagi looked up at her absently, then made an 'o' with her mouth, "I forgot you didn't know. Mamoru told me he was going to talk to Pluto this morning. You saying the others were gone reminded me. He probably used his communicator, I think, to tell Setsuna what he was up to. Then maybe he teleported, straight to the gate."

"He can do that?" Ami asked, slightly wary.

"His powers have been growing in the last few years. Ones that he had as Endymion have been coming back. Teleporting is just one example. He can also use the golden crystal to heal directly, as only I could do before. He has been using it at the hospital, not enough to be noticed but, yeah, he could have."

"This is part of the reason you've been getting anxious about Crystal Tokyo, isn't it?" Minako looked at Usagi tenderly. Usagi smiled a little.

"I just want us to be ready."

"We will be." Makoto put her arm around Usagi, who smiled up at her warmly.

"What was Mamoru seeing her about?" Rei asked.

"The Shitennou, of course. We talked, and he knows they deserve to come back. So he agreed to go see Pluto to ask if they could be brought back." The girls breathed a sigh of relief, except Rei.

"But why would the crystals be gone?" Rei pushed. She didn't ask how. With Pluto, it was better not to ask.

"I don't know. Maybe they needed them there. They're bound to the crystals, and to Beryl through them. They need to break that bond for them to be reincarnated safely. Setsuna probably took them. She can be anywhere instantly." Usagi thought aloud. Rei did not look satisfied.

"Or Maybe," Ami started, "If Mamoru has his powers returning, he could call them back." Rei shrugged.

"Well, we won't know till he gets back." Usagi said brightly. "How about we put on a movie? Yes? Something happy? Come on!" Ami followed Usagi first, and sat down on the couch. Rei gaped at her.

"What, Rei? We really can't do anything until Mamoru gets back. I need a good distraction, and short of a Youma, watching a movie with Usagi is going to be the most distracting thing I can think of." Ami said pleasantly. Rei started for a moment, before shutting her mouth and taking a seat next to Ami.

"That's true. Half of watching a movie with Usagi is watching Usagi react. I'm in. What are we watching?" She responded, feeling the need to explain her surrender. Makoto and Minako took a seat and watched Usagi animatedly extol the virtues of her various movies.

Minako snuggle to closest to Rei.

"I really hope this is all going better than I feel it is." Minako whispered to her.

"I know the feeling. I've felt weird since we got here." Rei whispered back.

"Well, all we can do is wait."

*

It wasn't until the end of an American film, at Rei's request, Lunch, at Usagi's, and the end of the now classic Hana Yori Dango Finale that Mamoru walked into the room. The girls turned to look at the lithe, bent figure materializing in the dying light by the window. The shadow in his eyes and the defensive stance made each girl stiffen, except Usagi, who was too busy crying and praising the movie to notice at first, not until the very air in the room changed with the tension.

"Mamo-chan" She breathed, taking in the stance and expression instantly. But unlike the other girls, who drew back from the intensity, she approached him without hesitation, brushed off her own tears. She held his hands. "Oh, Mamo-chan, what's wrong?"

"I can't do it." He said, his low voice cracking, "I can't do it!" Usagi rested her hands on his face trying to get him to focus on her.

"Mamo-chan, we talked about this. You can do this. You can trust them, let them come back."

"No, Usagi, you don't understand-" His voice getting lower and fainter.

"Of course I do! We've both seen people we loved be unable to cope with pure evil. But we have to forgi-"

"**No.**" He stated firmly. "You don't understand what I mean. It is not that I don't want to, Usako, it's that I can't. I physically can't make it happen. Pluto and I tried, but I can't. The stones would just not break."

"What?" She barely managed to produce the faint sound, feeling the pain in the room multiply, emanating from her senshi.

"We tried to raise them. I asked her to help me call them back from the crystal, to break their bonds to the stone, but I couldn't do it. They would not break. I had to see my men watch me fail at calling them back. And you know what was the worst part?" Usagi focused on the love of all her lives, "They just looked at me, completely understanding, totally grateful, even as I failed. Then they asked me not to bring them back unless the stones broke. They didn't want to put us all in danger." Usagi pulled him down into her arms kissed his forehead.

"There has to be a way. Maybe there was something else we had to do. What about Helios?"

"No, we tried."

"But-" He pulled back from her.

"I tried _everything_. I really did, Usagi. And they just looked on, unable to say anything."

Minako felt something in her give way, as she remembered why she was supposed to be there, and Kunzite's warning that he could not tell her the answers. As she remembered that she was here to speak for him, because he could not, and to redeem him before his prince. Rei looked at her stance.

"Minako?"

"I think I have an idea which might work. You said they looked on, unable to speak?" Ami nodded at her, smiling as she realized what Minako was suggesting. "That's exactly what they told us about the artifacts. Maybe there's a link."

"Possibly." Mamoru said, but his expression of loss did not alter.

"Mamoru. Here. Take this." She pulled her ring out of her pocket, and crossed the room, putting it in his hand. Instantly, the ring began to glow, and an inscription appeared. "The first half I can't read, but the second half is Venusian!"

"This is old Terrian. The ceremonial Language." Mamoru replied, turning it to get a better look. "Was this the last of the artifacts?"

"No!" Minako almost yelled, fully aware she sounded like an idiot. She could not have cared less. "Hurry, Rei, Makoto, Ami! Give him your rings!"

The others rushed forward, handing their rings to him too. The glow grew. Inscriptions formed on the other rings, in Terrian and then in Martian, Mecurian, and Jovian respectively.

"Read it!" Usagi urged, looking at the rings in his hands. "Read it, Mamoru!" He looked too terrified to be hopeful.

"_I am his servant_." He read the Terrian phrase from Venus' ring. The phrases in Terrian on each ring glowed more brightly still. He reached out his hand. The senshi took back their rings. They each read back, in their native tongues,

"_But my heart is yours_."

Light filled the room, almost blinding, but still nothing happened.

"What's missing?" Makoto cried desperately, unable to see around her.

"I don't know" Ami shouted, trying to get out her visor, but the light was so intense she could barely read the screen. "I can't get a read on it."

"Well somebody try something already!" Rei shouted.

"What about the crystals, Mamo-chan?" Usagi pulled on his coat to get his attention.

He fumbled pulling them out, afraid he'd drop them and be unable to find them again in all the light. They were glowing too, colors in all the white.

"Try it now! Try realizing them now, Mamo-chan!" Usagi urged. He nodded. For the millionth time that day, he repeated the phrase he'd chosen,

"I understand what event sent you to this prison in your own element. And I have forgiven you for your role in it. Come back to me now, and pay for your crimes with your actions."

The light flared. The sound of shattering crystal was deafening. When they all looked up, the four long absent soldiers knelt before their monarchs and their loves.

The girls hung back, although their flesh screamed at them to move, recognizing that this was Mamoru's moment.

"You are returned to your lives. I give you the choice to serve me again or not. How do you answer?"

"We are yours." They answered simply in unison. Mamoru smiled, eyes brilliant.

"Then I welcome you back, my brothers. Rise." They stood, and each clasped hand to forearm with their prince, extended from the heart, the old greeting. Usagi could not stop beaming. Mamoru stood back, placing an arm around her, bringing her forward, "My wife, Princess Serenity, now Chiba Usagi, and one day, Neo-Queen Serenity of Crystal Tokyo."

"Hi!" Usagi said warmly, waving off the beginnings of their collective bow, "It's good to have you back. We've been feeling your loss. But not as much as some people." She smiled slyly, giving a conspicuous head nod back at her senshi who had not moved.

"Your Majesties." Kunzite said for the group, bowing with grace as his men followed. The senshi inclined their heads, following protocol with three men they had not seen in peace in a lifetime, but locking eyes with the one they claimed.

"Shitennou." Minako replied, warm and sultry, voice beckoning, "We welcome you home."

"Alright." Usagi said surprising them all. "I order you at ease this instant. The suspense is killing me!" The senshi willingly obliged, moving the embrace their lovers.

Rei and Jadeite locked eyes, holding one another close, but did not speak or exchange caresses. All that needed to be said, or that _didn't_, could wait for privacy.

Ami and Zoicite where a blur of cape and blond and blue hair and giggles as Zoicite spun her around, placing soft kisses all over her face.

Makoto was sobbing against Nephrite who kept answering her angry whispers with soothing promises to never leave her like that again. Ever. He held her as close and as tightly as he could, hoping somehow to make up for leaving her - in the last life, in this one, or last night specifically, he was not sure which. He tried because he understood how abandoned she must have felt for so long.

Minako was kissing Kunzite soundly, hands shaking as they held his face, as though it would shatter or disappear back into a dream if she moved wrong. She had never been so afraid in her life. He held her to him firmly. She didn't even notice the tears slipping from her eyes. He did.

Mamoru held the slightly weepy Usagi.

"Gentlemen I do have just one question I need answered before I allow you some much needed alone time, as I can well see." The men broke from their senshi and smiled at one another, bowing in gratitude to their prince. "Why now? Why this new years?"

"We came because others wanted us to come back, to teach the senshi lessons they needed before the onslaught of worries from Crystal Tokyo." Kunzite answered, still holding Minako.

"Who?!?" Usagi replied, hanging on his every word.

"I'm sure he was getting there, Usako." Mamoru spoke gently against her hair. She blushed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Go on."

"Not at all princess." Kunzite replied, smiling on her softly. "Your mother, Queen Serenity, though Sailor Pluto, decided to make us an offer, to allow us to be reborn as long as we taught the senshi lessons from their past, and in this way we could pay for our crimes, for destroying your past, by securing your future. That is why this mission for the senshi was finally possible, because they agreed to it. Because of their wishes, this whole mission was not be just about us returning, but about the senshi understanding the importance of their bond. Your mother and Sailor Pluto wanted to make sure the senshi were ready to protect the princess even during the transition to Crystal Tokyo, where weaknesses will be exposed and tested."

"They wanted to make sure you could all work together under stress, even with those memories of your past lives. If you couldn't, we'd never make it to Crystal Tokyo." Nephrite summarized.

"It was a chance, and we took it without a second thought." Jadeite's smooth voice filled the room.

"So we could return to what mattered most." Zoicite closed looking into Ami's eyes.

"Then I thank you." Usagi replied with a grace that fit her mother. "Be happy." The senshi looked up, focusing on their princess with love. 'I will' Chorusing across her bond with them. She smiled.

"Welcome to redemption." Mamoru said solemnly. The Shitennou looked to him gratefully, then down to the women in front of them, with the same gratitude. "Now get out of here. You've kept them waiting long enough."

And in four flashes, they were all gone, leaving the two royals alone.

"We're complete, my only love. Everyone is back." Mamoru said, pulling Usagi against his chest firmly.

"But right now, we're alone, and the mood couldn't be more romantic." She said smiling up at him adoringly.

"Let's follow the pattern then." He replied, and they dematerialized into the bedroom. Usagi just laughed.

"I'm pretty sure that was less dramatic then for the other girls. This is down the hall."

"Yeah," He kissed the inside of her palm, "But they haven't been able to make love in a lifetime. Besides, we have had our share of drama. I think we can go without for the night." She again took his face in her hands.

"You're right. I can do without drama." She kissed him, feather-light, "Just not without you."

*

Minako sat in her chair by the window, wrapped up in her fleece blanket, looking out at a gray world. Gray days would always remind her of him. She smiled.

"Who gave you permission to get out of bed?" Came a deep, stern voice from the bed. Minako felt a rush of anticipation. She looked back at _her_ general barking orders from a propped-up position in _her_ bed. It pleased her, but she had to stifle a giggle at how much the pink and yellow striped sheets detracted from his attempt at intimidation.

"You did, by being too off guard to keep me there. Sleeping on duty. Who would have thought it would come to this, General? Such a shock."

His figure loomed large before her as he stepped out of bed, rising to his full height. Minako bit her lip, heart beat speeding up as she ran her eyes from top to bottom across the very nude man in front of her. How he had kept in that kind of shape inside of a stone, she'd never know. But goddess did he look good.

"I always correct my mistakes." He said coldly at the girl looking him up and down. Minako stared on, willing him to 'correct' her. She squealed as he lifted her into the air, pulling her to him, bridal style.

"Hi." She looked up at him smiling brightly. A small, satisfied smile started to form on his lips.

"I see you didn't bother to dress for your little escape." Minako had the grace to blush as he took this chance to survey her body, no longer protected by her blanket. She quickly regained her confidence.

"Maybe I wanted to be caught." She replied suggestively, running her teeth along his collar bone. He gripped her more tightly, shuddering slightly.

"Oh, I see. And why would that be?"

"To get to see you stand there naked and angry." She replied with a head tilt, her hair stroking his arm.

He threw her to the bed, pinning her with his weight.

"Then you will have to pay for that privilege." He said seriously. He began to kiss her neck, driving her from rational thought.

"Kunzite, wait." She said, suddenly serious, seeing the new band on her left hand ring finger. He pulled back to look at her, concerned.

"What's wrong, my angel?" Minako smiled at that shift from rough to tender.

"There was something I forgot to say." He looked at her, waiting. "Happy New Year."

He looked down at her and smiled fully.

"Thank you, Minako" He said intensely, leaning in to kiss her, "Happy New Year."

* * *

WOW! It's finally done, and just in time for Lunar New Year, which seems fitting based on the premise. Thank you to everyone for sticking with me, for all the support, and for pointing out little errors here and there. And most of all, thank you to VO1, for very kindly given (and often hilarious) criticism. I hope you enjoyed it. Happy Early New Year.


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